Infant Suffers Morphine Overdose Due to Pharmacist’s Error

Earlier this month in Edmonton, Canada, a family with a child almost lost him to a morphine overdose that was caused by a pharmacist making an error in the prescription given to the young child. According to one local news report, the baby was prescribed a very low dose of morphine by the family’s doctor. However, when the family took the prescription to get filled, it was filled at a much larger dose.

When the young child’s grandmother began to give him the medication, she noticed that after about three suckles of it he began to drool. His eyes rolled back into his head, and both of his arms went limp. The family called 911, and the baby was taken to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, emergency workers confirmed that the child had suffered an overdose of morphine. As it turns out, the compound provided to the child by the filling pharmacy was 100 times more potent than prescribed.

When confronted about their error, the pharmacy told reporters that the head pharmacist checked the prescription, an assistant filled it, and then the head pharmacist checked it again. Since the incident, the pharmacy has implemented a new procedure with “high-risk” drugs that requires two pharmacists to check off on a prescription before it is given to the patient.

Reports indicate that as soon as the pharmacists found out that their error resulted in the hospitalization of the young child, they went to visit the family in the hospital to make sure he would be all right. The pharmacy denied making an official comment because litigation was pending, but the employees noted that they were truly devastated by what happened. All the pharmacists involved in filling the prescription were allowed to keep working until the resolution of the case.

Pharmacy Error Cases in the United States

Canada has certainly seen a rash of pharmacy errors in the news lately, but so has the United States. In fact, each year thousands of people are made seriously ill or die due to pharmacists’ errors. Of course, when this type of mistake results in a serious injury or death, the victims of the pharmacists’ mistakes are entitled to seek monetary recovery from the pharmacy to help them cover expenses related to their injuries.

Have You Been Provided the Wrong Medication and Been Injured as a Result?

If you have recently been injured by a pharmacist’s error, or someone close to you has been injured, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. However, keep in mind that pharmacists and the pharmacies they work for are used to seeing claims—both with and without merit—from patients and have the tools necessary to fight the allegations. Therefore, it is critically important that you do all that you can to ensure the viability of your claim by retaining a dedicated pharmacy error attorney early on in the process. Call 410-654-3600 to set up an initial consultation with an attorney today.

More Blog Posts:

CVS Pharmacy Mixes Up Prescription, Man Sent to Hospital, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, December 15, 2014.

California Costco Pharmacy Mis-Fills One Patient’s Prescription Twice in One Year, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, January 22, 2014.

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