Story highlights Massachusetts high court will allow a wrongful-death lawsuit against pharmacy giant to go forward

A 19-year-old woman died after being unable to fill her seizure prescription

Walgreens said it had no legal obligation to contact her doctor's office for pre-authorization paperwork

(CNN) Does a pharmacy have an obligation to help a patient be sure that insurance will cover a prescription? That's the question at the heart of a landmark case that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Thursday.

had epilepsy and took a drug called Yarushka Rivera, 19, of Lowellhad epilepsy and took a drug called Topamax to manage her life-threatening seizures. Her insurer, MassHealth , covered the drug, and the family was able to pick it up from their local Walgreens until June 2009 without any trouble.

A month later, after Rivera turned 19, MassHealth wouldn't cover the cost of the drug without a doctor's pre-authorization for insurance coverage. The pharmacy told the family about the requirement and said they would have to pay $399.99 out of pocket for the crucial medication -- money they did not have, according to court documents.

While the family was unable to get the prescription filled, Walgreens said it would fax Rivera's doctor to request the pre-authorization form.

This was routine practice, the company said in court. In fact, the Walgreens computer system was set up so that when insurance denied coverage for the drug, the pharmacist would only have to click a button to automatically fax the doctor's office to request the form.

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