A woman in New Jersey suffering from an asthma attack had to call a paramedic when her local CVS wouldn’t sell her a $21 inhaler for $20.

The woman and her boyfriend were walking home in Garwood, NJ, when her asthma kicked into high gear. Hoping to quickly remedy the situation, they popped into a nearby CVS to buy an inhaler.

Recalls the boyfriend to MyFoxNY:

I had exactly a twenty-dollar bill. It came to twenty-one and change… I offered him my cell phone, my wallet. I said i live right around the corner. I come in here all the time….

I said ‘Can you just give her the pump. She’s on the floor wheezing… I didn’t know if an ambulance would get there on time. He said there was nothing he could do for me.

Thinking quickly, the boyfriend contacted a friend who is also a paramedic. “He did have an inhaler. She used two pumps, waited a little while,” the boyfriend says. “She started to come through a little quicker than if she didn’t have it.”

CVS, now under federal scrutiny for being lax about pseudoephedrine sales, tells Fox: “The well-being of our customers is our highest priority and we are looking into this matter.”

Woman Couldn’t Buy Inhaler During Asthma Attack [MyFoxNY.com]

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