True Stories of Pharmacy Mistakes that Reach Across all Boundaries

Bad things can happen to anyone, anywhere, any time. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, or whether you are a coal miner or a Hollywood celebrity. Pharmacy mistakes happen all across the country, in populous areas like Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles, and in tiny places like Harlan, Kentucky and Oak Hill, West Virginia. You and I take chances on our health and our lives every time a prescription is turned in at the pharmacy. One decimal point, a single-letter typo, or the simple confusion of similar-looking and
sounding names, is enough to cause serious harm, and even death. Even the richest people are vulnerable to pharmacy error, no less than those of a lower socio-economic status  even the poorest and
the richest are vulnerable to pharmacy mistakes.

Not even celebrities are protected from pharmacy errors:

One misplaced decimal in a child’s prescription can result in a tenfold medication error that turns into every parent’s nightmare. The actor Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins almost died in 2007 after being given a dose of blood-thinner that was 1,000 times the prescribed dose. The unfortunate fact is that most of these errors are preventable.

What follows are more stories of people who have been harmed by pharmacy mistakes.

From the News:

~2000: Five-year-old Brendan Ward had a bed-wetting problem. His doctor prescribed 25 milligrams of imipramine, twice per day. The tech typed 250 milligrams. The boy received 1 teaspoon according to label directions before bed that night. His mother found his dead body the next morning in his bed.

~2002: 4-month-old Alexandra Gherke was given a strong diabetes medication for adults instead of Phenobarbital to control her seizures. She continued to have seizures, which caused brain damage Alexandra is now 8 years old, and she can’t walk, talk, or feed herself. The doctors say she has a normal life expectancy.

~2007: Beth Hippely’s prescription for blood thinners was mistyped by a pharmacy technician who was still in high school. She suffered a massive stroke that left her unable to care for herself or her three kids. Worst of all, the stroke forced her to stop needed cancer chemotherapy. She died after her cancer returned. Janelle Banks, the high school pharmacy technician, admitted her typing mistake of 1 milligram instead of 10 milligrams dosage in court.

From Around the Web:

I went to the CVS around the corner from my house last week to get a prescription filled. I always go to that pharmacy, and usually, there are no medication errors. Last week, the pharmacy staff gave me someone else’s prescriptions in addition to my own. I had someone else’s medication, someone else’s personal information, and I had no business with it!

I took it back to the pharmacy because it wasn’t my medicine, and they acted like I had stolen the other person’s medicine and information, until I showed them their bag, their receipt, and the information sheets that were stapled to my bag, along with the medicine still in there. They weren’t even embarrassed to have done this! If I had not taken that medicine back, the other person would not have been able to receive their medicine this month, because the insurance company would have it listed as paid for and received. What would they do without their Plavix and their Lasix?
~Elizabeth, Los Angeles, California

I went to Wal-Mart to have my prescription filled last month. I take Cyclosporine for RA, prescribed by my rheumatologist. My primary care doctor gave me Wellbutrin to help me stop smoking. My rheumatologist raised the dose of my Cyclosporine, and within 3 weeks, I started to have violent seizures. My family has no history of seizures, and I’ve never had them. I’ll have to take seizure medicine for the rest of my life now, because no one cross checked my medications and their side effects.

After I was released from the hospital, I was sent to a neurologist, who gave me seizure medication, and advised me to stop Cyclosporine and taper off Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin in high does can cause seizures. Cyclosporine can raise blood pressure, and when you combine these drugs, you can have terrible side effects. I now stutter, and I will take seizure medicine and worry about having seizures for the rest of my life. Aren’t pharmacists supposed to cross-check your medication for interactions like this? Aren’t they supposed to be more knowledgeable about drugs and side effects than medical doctors? I got the wrong medication combination, and now I will pay for this pharmacy error for the rest of my life.
~Jane, Hampton, VA

My sister was given methadone to control severe chronic pain in her spine last year. The label said to take four 10 mg pills every 4 hours as needed for pain. She took it according to the label instructions, and within a day, she was dead from overdose. The Walgreens pharmacist killed my sister by putting the wrong label on her medicine. She should have taken it only twice per day, not four or five times a day. I need to sue this pharmacy and the pharmacist. She was the only family I had left.
~Don, Harlan, KY

I went to the doctor for a follow-up visit about my medications. I gave the prescriptions to the Walgreens pharmacy, picked up my medication, and when I got home, there was a bottle of Levothyroxine in the bag. It had my name and information on it, so I took it according to the directions on the label. The doctor said my thyroid levels were low at the next visit, but not to worry. The nest day, I got a call from the pharmacy asking me if the doctor had prescribed Levothyroxine for me. I explained to her that I had had it in my bag the day I picked up my other medications. She told me that she thought I had been given someone else’s medication. I’ve been taking this medication for four months now, and the doctor is weaning me off of it. We still don’t k now if my thyroid was damaged because of this pharmacy mistake. It’s very scary!
~ Hannah, Hoboken, NJ

Pharmacy mistakes happen everywhere, every day. They can happen to anyone, and it doesn’t matter how much money you make, where you live, or if they recognize you when you come in and call you by name. It can and does happen everywhere, every single day.