Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

In a widely publicized pharmacy error from earlier this year that our Maryland Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyers followed, 21 elite horses tragically died after a pharmacy incorrectly prepared the medication given to the horses.

According to reports, 21 of the 25 horses of the Venezuelan polo team were allegedly given an a drug mixed to replicate the name-brand supplement Biodyl—a concoction of vitamins and minerals often used to treat muscle fatigue in horses. Biodyl is reportedly used safely around the world, but hasn’t been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this country.

The drug concoction was prepared by Franck’s Pharmacy Compounding Lab in Ocala, and the mixture allegedly contained a strength of an ingredient that was incorrect—making the horses sick and causing their tragic death at the International Polo Club of Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida. Only the horses treated with the medication mistake became sick and died within hours of treatment, after collapsing, as they were unloaded from their trailers where they were scheduled to play in the U.S. Polo Open.

Fox News reported that veterinarians commonly turn to compounding pharmacies for medications that aren’t readily available on pharmacy shelves. The Lechuza polo team said in a statement that a Florida-based veterinarian wrote a prescription for the pharmacy to create a compound similar to Biodyl, after using the manufactured version of the drug for many years without problems.

Continue reading " Local Pharmacy Mistake Kills 21 Polo Horses " »

In a related blog from yesterday, our Maryland Pharmacy Misfill Lawyers discussed a recent article from USA Today, where the step-by-step process of how a prescription is filled was followed in two pharmacies—to uncover how pharmacy mistakes are taking place, and how to prevent them in the future.

The article revealed how the possible errors are made and also discussed what steps pharmacies are making to try and prevent these errors, and reduce the number of pharmacy mistakes and patient injuries that could happen in the future.

Pharmacies are trying to prevent errors by:

• Encouraging improved communications between doctors and pharmacies.

• Encouraging doctors to write the prescriptions in full length, instead of using medical codes or abbreviations.

• Trying to transition from prescriptions that are handwritten to electronic prescribing—where a doctor sends the prescription directly from the doctors’ offices to the pharmacy computers.

• Computers are being used to aid the prescribing process, with more alerts for drug interactions, allergies, or patient’s illnesses.

• Other computer safety features include popup boxes when a technician enters or confuses a drug name with similarly named drug. After the popup appears, the technician has to initial the box to show he checked the drug.

Continue reading " Steps for Preventing Prescription Errors in Pharmacies " »

In a recent study that our Maryland Pharmacy Error Attorneys have been following, USA Today investigated every step of a prescription’s path in a pharmacy—to uncover the potential for medication mistakes with each step of the filling process, that can lead to patient injury or wrongful death.

In the research, USA Today interviewed pharmacy experts and toured two pharmacies, a CVS and Walgreens, to study the six steps of the prescription filling process, and the potential errors that can happen along the way, as well as real cases that have caused actual injuries or death.

Step 1: Prescription received
When the customer drops off the prescription to the technician, or the doctor’s office calls in the prescription, errors can occur if a technician misunderstands a doctor's handwriting, prescription codes and abbreviations or misunderstands the oral instructions over the phone. In one case, a doctor’s prescription for methadone read “sig 4 tablet BID for chronic pain,” which means “Please label (sig) this drug to say: take 4 tablets twice per day (BID) for chronic pain. The technician typed, “Take 4 tables by mouth as needed for chronic pain.” The patient allegedly died of an overdose of methadone.

Step 2: Prescription entry
A technician then scans the original prescription into the computer and manually enters the patient’s personal data, like name, address, date of birth and phone number, as well as drug information, strength, dosage instructions and quantity. If a technician incorrectly types the prescribed drug dosage, formulation or the patient’s medical condition, history or allergies into the computer, then serious errors can occur, including personal injury. Also if the wrong drug code is chosen in the computer system, it can be mistaken for a similarly named drug. In one instance, a pharmacy was asked to fill a prescription for compazine, an anti-nausea drug, (COM) and accidentally gave the patient a generic substitute for coumadin, a blood thinner (COU).

Continue reading " Understanding the Prescription Drug’s Path through a Pharmacy can Reduce Error " »

Our Maryland Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyers have been following the recent case filed last week on behalf of John Sheridan, a man who died after being prescribed the wrong dosage of a cancer medication.

According to the suit, Sheridan was prescribed Temodar, a powerful drug for brain tumors that was part of his treatment of cancer in September 2007. The prescription was allegedly written incorrectly, and Sheridan was wrongly prescribed 10 times the correct dosage—he reportedly took the medicine daily when it was only to be used every other week. Rite Aid Pharmacy allegedly dispensed the drug to Sheridan, without checking with Sheridan’s oncologist for a second opinion to clarify the prescription mistake.

The lawsuit accuses a Rite Aid pharmacy for contributing in the wrongful death of Sheridan, who reportedly had consumed toxic doses of the cancer medication. According to the Associated Press, the doctor who wrote the incorrect prescription has settled with Sheridan’s estate.

According to a 2006 report from the Institute of Medicine, at least 1.5 million Americans are injured by medication mistakes every year, and nearly 7,000 people die every year from medication errors annually.

Continue reading " Pharmacy Mistake Leads to Wrongful Death—Rite Aid Faces Lawsuit " »

In Maryland news this week, our medical mistake lawyers have been following the recall announcement by Sanofi-Aventis, the vaccine manufacturer of 800,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine for children under the age of three. According to the Washington Post, the flu vaccine has lost potency after being shipped from the factory, and doses are being recalled in Maryland and nationwide.

The recall dosages are single-dose pre-filled syringes containing the vaccine specifically created for children ages 6 to 35 months. It is a voluntary, nationwide recall by Sanofi Pasteur.

During testing at the time of the vaccine’s manufacture, the doses contained 7.5 micrograms of antigen, the recommended dosage used to stimulate immunity in children. But later testing showed degradation of the vaccine, making it less potent than desired. This proved to be the case with four lots of the vaccine, totaling 800,000 doses.

According to the Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC), this recall is part of a routine quality assurance program and is non-safety related. Children who received the vaccine do not need to be re-immunized, but with future immunizations, children should be given the proper vaccination dosage. With children who have only received one vaccine dose, they should get the get their scheduled second dose.

Continue reading " Childrens' Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine Recalled in Maryland " »