Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

As our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury attorneys reported in a recent blog, pharmacy errors or misfills can happen in every step of a prescription’s path in a pharmacy. Many factors can lead to prescription error, including misunderstanding a doctor’s handwriting, making mistakes with prescription codes or abbreviations, and misreading a patient's medical conditions or medication list, among others.

In a recent pharmacy mistake lawsuit, filed last month, Charles Stevens, 70, was given a prescription for Lomotil, an anti-diarrhea medicine that he dropped off to be filled at his local CVS Pharmacy in Santa Barbara, CA in 2009. When Stevens picked up his prescription, he was allegedly mistakenly given a prescription for Warfarin Sodium, a medication prescribed for blood-thinning. Stevens was reportedly already taking blood-thinning medication, and after taking the prescription misfill, he suffered major bleeding, and was immediately taken by his wife to the hospital.

Stevens and his wife are reportedly suing CVS for pharmacy negligence, and pharmacy malpractice, claiming that the pharmacy failed to read the prescription correctly, misfilled his medication bottle with incorrect drugs, and failed to properly analyze Stevens’ medication profile, which could have prevented the medication mistake.

CVS reportedly has a patient profile mechanism that is used to protect patients from such dangerous drug errors as well as dangerous drug combinations, or repeat or double-diagnoses. According to Stevens' attorney, CVS reportedly admitted to the pharmacy mistake and Stevens’ lawyers are asking for over $200,000 in damages.

Continue reading "Man Sues CVS for Pharmacy Misfill" »

In recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyers have been following, a Texas woman filed a lawsuit against Walgreens last week, claiming that a pharmacist mislabeled her medication—a mistake the woman claims, that could have caused her wrongful death.

According to Jessica Soliz, a Walgreens pharmacist made a major pharmacy error when labeling her prescription for seizure medication. After Soliz picked up her prescription drugs from the pharmacy and began taking them, she reportedly became very ill. The prescription error wasn’t discovered until a nurse looked at the label, and realized that prescription was mislabeled to read that each pill contained 25 milligrams of Lamictal, when in fact each pill in the bottle contained 100 milligrams or the drug.

According to the FDA, the most common medication errors are due to wrong doses, incorrect drugs, or the incorrect administration of drugs. The Institute of Medicine reports that there are around 1.5 million medication error injuries that happen every year, with at least 7,000 deaths.

In Soliz’s case, Walgreens responded that they were sorry that this pharmacy error occurred. They stated that they take pharmacy safety seriously, and are constantly working to improve the quality, accuracy and service of all pharmacy orders, to prevent pharmacy error injury or wrongful death.

Continue reading " Woman Sues Walgreens for Seizure Medication Pharmacy Error" »

In a recent lawsuit that our Maryland Pharmacy Error Injury Attorneys have been following, a Wal-mart pharmacy is being accused of giving a Texas resident another patient’s prescription—a pharmacy mistake that reportedly led to personal injuries and physical suffering.

According to the lawsuit, when Joseph Nini picked up his prescription at the Wal-Mart Pharmacy on March 25, 2008, he was given another patient’s medication by the pharmacist on duty, Cindy Lee Carranza.

Nini, a 77-year old Jasper County resident, claims that after taking the incorrect medication, he had to go to the hospital, as the medication made him ill and caused him to endure personal injuries as well physical pain, mental anguish, and physical impairment.

Wal-mart and Carranza are being accused of being responsible for causing his injuries, as Nini claims that they negligently failed to dispense the proper medication, failed to comply with the pharmacy policies put into place to prevent pharmacy misfills and the accidental dispensing of medication to the wrong patient, and failed to contact him or properly communicate with him when the pharmacy discovered that he had been given the wrong medication.

Continue reading "Patient Sues Wal-Mart Pharmacy for Prescription Mix-Up" »

In a highly publicized pharmacy error case from last year that our Washington D.C. Pharmacy Error Attorneys covered in a blog, 21 Venezuelan polo team horses tragically died after being given a drug mixed by Frank’s Pharmacy Compounding Lab, aimed to replicate Biodyl, a vitamin and mineral supplement that is often used to treat muscle fatigue in horses. The drug concoction was allegedly too strong, causing a medication error that lead to the death of the horses at the International Polo Club of Palm Beach in Florida.

This week, Franck’s Pharmacy voluntarily suspended all veterinary compounding in the lab, after reportedly being threatened with an injunction by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Last month, the FDA filed a complaint that Franck’s was going around the law by producing and selling misbranded and adulterated drugs and pharmacy compounds that were too similar to drugs that are FDA-approved.

According to the FDA, compounded drugs are not reviewed by the FDA for effectiveness and safety. Drug compounding has been criticized for lack of oversight—especially when both human and animal patients could be exposed to unapproved medication, that could result personal injury or even in this case death. In an FDA Compliance Policy Guide from 2003, the agency stated concerns about the risks posed by pharmacists and veterinarians who manufacture, distribute, and mass-markets animal drugs that are unapproved.

The FDA has reportedly had a strong interest in this case, as the deaths of these horses were caused by pharmacy error—from the same pharmacy that produces drugs for humans.

Continue reading "FDA Accuses Franck’s Pharmacy of Illegal Compounding" »

Our Pharmacy Misfill Attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland recently posted a blog that discussed the epidemic of prescription error stemming from poor language translations in pharmacies across the country—causing pharmacy misfill and medication errors that could lead to patient injury.

In a study that our attorneys discussed, published in the May issue of Pediatrics, researchers found that pharmacies using labels that have been translated into Spanish with a computer program often provide inaccurate or confusing drug instructions filled with medication errors—often delivered in a mix of English and Spanish or “Spanglish.” The study looked at 76 labels for prescriptions generated by 13 different pharmacy translation computer programs, and there was a reported error rate of 50 percent.

Dr. Alejandro Clavier, a doctor in Chicago told the Chicago Tribune that he experiences translation issues with his patients in his practice every day. In one example, a patient who suffers from anemia was not improving after taking the iron supplements that Clavier prescribed. Clavier found that the patient had only been taking one drop of the iron supplement—not the stronger dosage Clavier prescribed. The patient had reportedly received instructions from the pharmacy that were confusing and hard to understand.

According to a study performed by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, many pharmacies in four states with a large and growing Latino population are unable to even provide translations for prescriptions. The 2009 study found that nearly 35 percent of the pharmacies surveyed did not even offer translations services, and 22 percent offered pharmacy translations that were limited.

Continue reading "The Problem of Prescription Language Translations in Pharmacies" »

In a recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland Attorneys have been following, doctors are reportedly increasingly leaving behind paper when prescribing medications, and depending more and more on electronic prescriptions, or “e-prescriptions”—in an effort to avoid pharmacy misfills and medication errors, along with hard-to-read doctor handwriting, or even prescription fraud, as our attorneys reported on in our last blog.

E-prescribing immediately sends the prescriptions to the pharmacy in a digital format through a secured Internet network, from a handheld device or from their computers. The doctor simply selects the drug from a computerized list, with other symbols indicating the best drug option, different dosages, and either generic or name-brand medicine, instead of hand-writing the prescription, which can lead to medication error. Some e-prescribing programs give symbols in the form of colored or smiling faces, delineating between cheapest, preferred, or less desirable drug options.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of e-prescriptions almost tripled last year, from 68 million in the previous year, to 191 million in 2009. Surescripts, LLC, the company that handles the majority of the electronic communications in e-prescribing, reports that this represents 12% of the 1.63 billion original prescriptions, which excludes refills. The first three months of this year showed that one out of every five prescriptions is being filed electronically—a number that is rapidly growing, as nearly 25% of doctors based in offices already have the technology to e-prescribe.

In a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in February of this year, e-prescribing was found to reduce common hand-written prescriptions errors significantly, including pharmacy misfills containing the wrong dosage, or incorrect usage instructions that could lead to patient injury or even wrongful death.

Continue reading "Study Shows E-Prescribing Significantly Reduces Prescription Errors" »

In a blog from last week, our Washington-D.C. area Pharmacy Error Attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen covered the topic of illegal prescription drugs, after a Maryland pharmacist was sentenced to federal prison for selling illegal painkillers to a drug dealer—drugs that were meant to be used under the supervision of a doctor, that could lead to personal injury, drug overdose and death.

According to the Baltimore Sun, prescription drugs are currently the number one cause of death overdose in the country. The Office of National Drug Policy claims that in his past year of drug abuse, prescription pain killers now rank second, behind marijuana as the nation’s most prevalent illegal drug problem. The National Institute of Medicine reports that 20 percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, leading to addiction.

In a recent Hollywood tragedy, Corey Haim, star of the 80’s film The Lost Boys, died in what officials from the Los Angeles Police Department claim was an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. After an investigation, Haim’s name surfaced in connection with an illegal prescription drug ring in Southern California with the painkiller OxyContin. The drug ring was linked to as many as 5,000 prescriptions—by ordering prescription pads from authorized vendors and stealing doctors’ identities.

Prescription drug overdose has been ruling news headlines over the past few years, after deaths of high profile celebrities like Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith.

Many addicts are reportedly getting their prescriptions drugs by “doctor shopping," or going from doctor to doctor to collect prescriptions. According to the Sun, Maryland needs a system to monitor the number of prescriptions that are written for every patient, which if abused by "doctor shopping" can lead to medication error and injury. The Sun calls for Maryland Legislators to set up a drug task force to better monitor and control this drug epidemic.

Continue reading "Hollywood Prescription Drug Abuse —Illegal Drug Rackets and “Doctor Shopping”" »

In recent Baltimore, Maryland Pharmacy Error news, a local pharmacist in Reisterstown was reportedly sentenced to six years in federal prison for illegally selling 34,000 prescription drug painkillers to a drug dealer.

Maryland’s U.S. Attorney’s office announced this month that Ketankumar Arvind Patel, a former pharmacist for the Medicine Shoppe pharmacy, was working with a drug dealer to sell drugs containing the opioid oxycodone, like OxyContin and Percocet. Patel reportedly showed the drug dealer how to write fake prescriptions with a blank prescription pad to avoid detection from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), other authorities, and insurance companies.

The drug dealer went on to fill out multiple fake prescriptions in different patient names for both prescription painkillers, and Patel filled them in his pharmacy from July 2007 to March 2009. The Department of Justice claims that Patel sold around 620 prescriptions for the dealer, at around $8-$12 per 80mg pill of the drug OxyContin, and around $2-$10 per 10mg pill of the drug Percocet.

According to U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosensten, prescription medication abuse is one of the leading law enforcement challenges, with drugs that are meant to be used under the supervision of a doctor, sold to substance abusers who become addicted to the drugs, which has become increasingly prevalent among young adults and teenagers, and can lead to personal injury or even wrongful death.

Continue reading "Baltimore, Maryland Pharmacist Sentenced for Selling Illegal Prescription Drugs to Dealer" »

In a recent study that our Maryland Pharmacy Misfill Attorneys have been following, the problem of prescription translations from English to Spanish in pharmacies nationwide is being exposed, as well as the potential for medication error with customers.

The study, published in the May issue of Pediatrics, shows that many Spanish speaking people living in the United States are receiving prescription drugs from pharmacies with labels and instructions that have been translated so poorly from English to Spanish, that they are riddled with errors, misspellings, and incorrect phrasing. The prescription medications in these cases proved to have the potential of being more of a health hazard than a health benefit to patients if incorrectly administered—which could lead to personal injury or wrongful death.

According to the study results, the prescription translation errors are occurring because of poor translation systems in the computer programs that most pharmacies depend on for Spanish to English medication translations.

The study focused on 286 pharmacies in the Bronx, New York, where a reported 44 percent of the city’s population speak Spanish. The results found that 86 percent of pharmacies provided Spanish labels and instructions that were translated by computer programs, 11 percent used staff members for translations, and 3 percent of pharmacies used a professional interpreter to translate the labels and instructions.

The researchers reportedly found dozens of incidents where the quality of the medication label and instruction translations were dangerouly inconsistent. A common problem was that the computer program translated the prescription information into “Spanglish”— a mix of English and Spanish that was hard to read and often confusing. One example of a medication translation mistake was the use of the word “once” in English, meaning “once a day” that also means “eleven” in Spanish, which could result in a possible overdose. Other instructions that were not properly translated included phrases like, “apply topically,” or take “with juice,” or “with food,” as well as the length of the drug course, like “for seven days.”

Continue reading "Pharmacy Error in English-Spanish translated Drug Labels and Instructions" »

In yesterday’s blog, our Baltimore, Maryland Medical Mistake Attorneys discussed leading causes of medical mistakes with children in this country, and important ways to prevent medical errors from happening.

According to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, 88% of medication errors involve the wrong dosage or incorrect drug. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the lead Federal agency that supports research to improve the quality of healthcare, addresses the importance of patient safety and the cause of many medical errors in a recently published press release.

In the press release, the AHRQ addresses the large problem of medical mistakes with children in this country, and gives parents and guardians tips on how to prevent these medical errors from happening with children, to avoid personal injury.

According to the AHRQ:

• Being involved in your child’s healthcare is the most important way to prevent medical errors or pharmacy misfills. The AHRQ stresses that it is extremely important for parents or guardians to take part in every decision that is made regarding the healthcare for a child.

• Make sure that your child’s doctors know every detail regarding the history and statistics (height and weight) of your child, every prescription, all over the counter medications, and any vitamins or dietary or herbal supplements, as well as any known allergies to any medication.

• At least once a year, bring a bag of everything your child is taking and go through each one with the doctor to ensure that there is no problem or conflict with any medication.

• Make sure you can read every prescription that the doctor writes. Double check the name and dosage, or if there is any question, have the doctor re-write the prescription in capital letters, printing the name of the drug and the dosage. If you can’t read the doctor’s handwriting, chances are the pharmacist will not be able to either.

Continue reading "AHRQ Tips for Preventing Medical Mistakes with Children" »

In our last blog, our Maryland Attorneys from Lebowitz and Mzhen, LLC, discussed a recent pharmacy misfill, where an 8-year old boy received the wrong dosage of a medication that could have caused the child serious personal injury or even wrongful death.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), medical errors are one of the leading causes of injury and death in this country. The AHRQ reports that in a recent study, rates for potential adverse drug events in hospitals were three times higher with children than adults, with an even higher rate for infants in intensive care units.

The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, (NCCMERP), estimates that nearly 98,000 people experience death from medical errors that occur in hospitals every year. Medication errors can happen at any point in the healthcare process and system and can result in injury—from miscommunication with doctors, to prescribing the drug, dispensing drugs at the pharmacy, or in the administering or the process of monitoring the drugs.

The AHRQ recommends that single most important way to prevent medical errors from happening to your child, is to be an active participant with the healthcare team that is caring for your child. Research shows that parents who are involved in all aspects and decisions of a child’s care experience better and safer results.

Continue reading "Keeping Children Safe—Eliminating Mistakes from the Children’s Healthcare Industry" »

In a blog from last week, our Maryland Pharmacy Misfill Injury Attorneys discussed a recent case involving a victim of prescription error involving a patient who was given the incorrect dosage of blood thinners and suffered a massive stroke—leading to her wrongful death.

In related news, our lawyers have been following the recent case of an eight-year old boy, who was immediately hospitalized after a pharmacy error resulted in the boy receiving medication that was ten times stronger than his original prescription.

According to an ABC news article, Jessie Jordan, an 8-year old child from Grand Tower, Illinois, was on medication to treat his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The doctor reportedly suggested adding a two-milligram dosage Abilify to his medication list—a drug used to help manage depression and schizophrenia in adults, that the doctor felt could improve his moods.

When the pharmacy filled the prescription for Jordan, they reportedly gave him twenty milligrams of Abilify instead of two—ten times more than the prescribed dosage. Jordan’s father claimed that once he began the medication, he experienced shaking that was uncontrollable, his blood pressure went through the roof, and he experienced delirium. He was taken to the hospital, and according to the news report, the extent of the physical damage and personal injury won’t be known for another month or so, until the child can eliminate from the powerful drug in his body.

Continue reading "Eight-Year Old Injured After Pharmacy Error and Prescription Misfill" »

In recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland Pharmacy Error Attorneys have been following, an appeals court has upheld a decision in favor of the family who was awarded $33.3 million in a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Deane Hippely, who died in 2007 after a Walgreens Pharmacy technician reportedly made an error in her prescription medication that was treating her breast cancer.

According to the lawsuit, Beth Hippely, a mother of four children from Lakeland, Florida, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, and was given an 88 percent chance of a full recovery. Her recovery treatment plan included chemotherapy, radiation and prescription drugs.

One of the drugs that Hippley was given to treat her breast cancer was a 1 milligram tablet of Warfarin, a blood thinner. When Hippely took her prescription for Warfarin to be filled at the local Walgreens she was mistakenly given 10 milligrams of the drug, by a teenage pharmacy technician who reportedly had little experience.

After a few weeks of taking the wrong dosage of medication, the pharmacy error reportedly caused Hippley to suffer from a stroke, resulting in a brain hemorrhage that caused her personal injury, physical pain and paralysis, forcing her to stop her necessary cancer treatments. She died in January of 2007 before the lawsuit went to trial.

Continue reading "Wrongful Death Award Upheld—Walgreens to Pay Family $33 Million in Damages" »

In recent news that our Washington D.C. Pharmacy Misfill Attorneys have been following, a young woman in Florida recently experienced a serious medication error when she filled her prescription for doxycycline, a medication for acne, and received a bottle of Viagra instead.

According the news story, after picking up her prescription acne medication at the Walmart pharmacy, she didn't realize that was mistakenly given Viagra capsules because the capsules were reportedly very similar to the medication she took in both shape, color, and size. She proceeded to take the Viagra without realizing the mistake, and claims to have suffered with health related conditions. It wasn’t until her family discovered the other patient label on the bottom of the bottle underneath her name that clearly indicated that the medication was Viagra, and intended for another patient.

The family of the teenager confronted the pharmacy at Walmart, and claimed that the college student has suffered many physical problems as a result of the pharmacy misfill and medication mistake. She claimed that after taking Viagra, she experienced serious health complications, including a racing heartbeat, extreme bodily temperature changes, anxiety and bouts of dizziness.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 1.3 million people are injured every year in this country from medication errors, with at least one death reported every day. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, (NCCMERP), reports that injury from medication error is an huge problem and health risk for the public, and needs to receive far more public attention. Medication mistakes can happen anytime in the pharmacy process, from prescribing, distribution, dispensing, administering or monitoring—often times resulting in personal injury.

Continue reading "Walmart Pharmacy Misfill—Teenager's Acne Prescription Wrongly Filled with Viagra" »

As Maryland Pharmacy Misfill Attorneys, we have been following the recent verdict in which $2.5 million in damages were awarded to a Montgomery, Alabama woman and her husband, who claimed to be victims of a Rite Aid Pharmacy prescription misfill.

According to the lawsuit filed in 2008, Reva Tosh received a prescription for a pain medication on November 11, 2006. When Tosh dropped off the prescription to the Rite Aid pharmacy two days later, the pharmacist misfilled the order with the steroid dexamethasone—a steroid with severe side effects often prescribed during cancer treatments.

Rite Aid Pharmacy allegedly gave Tosh more than seven times the regular dosage of the steroids for a period of 28 days, and she claimed to have developed a disorder of the adrenal glands called Cushing’s Syndrome, that caused her to suffer physical ailments, personal injury, and mental disorders, that confined her to a wheelchair.

During the trial, the the central issue was whether Tosh’s injuries were caused by the pharmacy misfill, or due to her preexisting illness of rheumatoid arthritis.

Reva Tosh was awarded $2 million in damages by the jury, and her husband Gerald Tosh received $500,000 for the his loss of her companionship.

Continue reading "Jury Orders Rite Aid to Pay $2.5 Million for Pharmacy Misfill" »

As Maryland Pharmacy Error Attorneys, we have been following a recent report by The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) about the danger of error-prone abbreviations and when it comes to writing a prescription—the fact that some shortcuts don’t save time, and can result in pharmacy error or injury.

According to the ISMP Error Alert article, nearly everyone in the healthcare industry uses shortcuts, like abbreviations and symbols, in an effort to save time when handwriting specifics for the prescription—including phrases, units of measure and words. Some shortcuts can in the end can be very time consuming, as they need to be checked and verified for accuracy on the receiving end. These verifications could also reportedly cause a greater chance for medication error than if the prescription was written out without abbreviations or symbols. The article claims that it is important to prevent future misunderstandings now, instead of waiting until medical abbreviations, dose designations or symbols lead to a patient injury.

The article lists a few common error-prone abbreviations, symbols and dosage misunderstandings that take more time for the pharmacist to check, and could cause medication mistakes:

• Some abbreviations that indicate the frequency of when to take the drug, can be difficult to understand, and can lead to error. In one prescription for “Penicillin VK 500 mg Q1D X 7D,” the physician accidentally typed “Q1D” (once a day) instead of “QID” (four times a day). The pharmacist realized the mistake, and that the patient was supposed to be taking the penicillin four times a day for seven days (7D). Another example of frequent error comes in the abbreviation for “D” (days), where it can also be mistaken for “doses.”

Continue reading "Dangerous Error-Prone Prescription Abbreviations" »

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" »