Recent case to illustrate issues on the traditional rule on (no) duty to help

Here are some links to a recently reported story about a CVS pharmacist who refused to sell an asthma inhaler to a customer even though she was having an attack at the moment because the customer was just over a dollar short. Could CVS be liable for it under the common law? No. (There may be some special statute that applies to a situation like that but I don't know of any.) What about other customers? Assume other people were around and did not offer to help. Could they be liable?  The Boston Personal Injury Lawyer Blog has a good comment about the case here, and there is more on the story here and here.