CVS
CHARLESTON – A Kanawha County woman blames a St. Albans health clinic and a CVS pharmacy for negligent care that allegedly led to the sudden 2024 death of her 16-year-old daughter.
Kathy Newhouse, administratrix of the estate of Shianna Newhouse, filed her complaint in federal court against the United States of America and CVS Pharmacy. The government oversaw Family Care Health Center, the health clinic providing care to Shianna Newhouse.
The mother claims both health providers failed to protect Shianna Newhouse, a known seizure patient, from the risks of a pseudoephedrine‑containing cold medicine.
According to the complaint, Shianna Newhouse presented to Family Care on September 27, 2024, with fever, cough, sore throat and leg pain, reporting she had been around others who were sick. She was seen by physician assistant Holly Murriner. Family Care records cited in the suit say the clinic’s problem list noted a “seizure disorder” beginning in January 2024. It also said Shianna Newhouse followed with a neurologist, and her past medical history was positive for seizures/epilepsy and “borderline intellectual functioning,” with the history last reviewed in 2019.
The complaint contends Family Care providers failed to perform an adequate medication reconciliation to determine what drugs Shianna Newhouse was currently prescribed and taking. The filing says a medication log showed prescriptions for the stimulant Adzenys XR‑ODT and the anti‑seizure drug lamotrigine (Lamictal).
At the visit, Murriner diagnosed acute pharyngitis and prescribed amoxicillin and Bromfed DM syrup, which contains the decongestant pseudoephedrine. The complaint alleges pseudoephedrine can lower the seizure threshold and trigger seizures in sensitive individuals, and that administering it to a seizure‑prone patient can increase the likelihood of a seizure event.
According to the complaint, there is no documentation Murriner warned Shianna Newhouse or her family about potential interactions between pseudoephedrine and her other medications or the increased seizure risk the drug posed for someone with epilepsy. Under “discussion notes,” the chart allegedly reflects only an instruction to “finish all medications.”
The suit further says Shianna’s heart rate at the visit was 115 beats per minute, indicating tachycardia, but that this did not alter the decision to prescribe Bromfed DM.
Later that day, the Bromfed prescription was filled at the CVS in St. Albans. Earlier that month, the same CVS had filled prescriptions for Adzenys XR‑ODT and extended‑release Lamictal for her.
Before dispensing Bromfed, the complaint says neither the pharmacist nor a pharmacy technician contacted Family Care about the patient, the prescription or any internal computer alerts, nor did they counsel Shianna Newhouse or her family about risks associated with the medication.
From September 27 to October 1, 2024, Shianna Newhouse took the pseudoephedrine‑containing syrup as instructed, according to the complaint. On October 1 around noon, her mother observed her daughter awake and oriented before leaving for the store.
When Kathy Newhouse returned at 3:04 p.m., she found the teenager unresponsive between her bed and the wall. Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies and emergency medical personnel responded, and Shianna Newhouse was pronounced dead at 3:32 p.m. of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, or SUDEP.
Post‑mortem toxicology detected the presence of pseudoephedrine in her system, the complaint states. Kathy Newhouse alleges her daughter’s death was caused by the negligent acts and omissions of both the federal health center and CVS.
She brings a medical malpractice claim against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act and West Virginia’s Medical Professional Liability Act, arguing Family Care providers deviated from accepted standards of care. The complaint lists alleged breaches including prescribing pseudoephedrine to a known seizure patient, failing to obtain informed consent about the drug’s risks, failing to account for potential interactions with existing prescriptions and failing to properly reconcile her medications and past medical history.
She accuses CVS of negligence under the same state liability statute, alleging the pharmacy had a duty to exercise reasonable care when filling and dispensing Bromfed DM for a teen with active epilepsy treatment. The complaint accuses CVS of failing to check for drug interactions, ignoring or overriding internal alerts, failing to communicate concerns to the prescriber and failing to warn Shianna or her guardian about increased seizure risks.
She seeks compensatory damages for medical expenses, lost wages and earning capacity, loss of household services, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium as well as funeral and burial costs. She also seeks punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees, pre‑ and post‑judgment interest and other relief.
Newhouse is being represented by Timothy D. Houston, L. Dante diTrapano and David H. Carriger of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston. The federal government is being represented by U.S. Attorney Moore Capito, and CVS is being represented by Cory Brandon Lowe, Michael A. Meadows and Robert J. Behling off Burns White in Huntington and Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:26-cv-258
