Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

Hollywood Prescription Drug Abuse —Illegal Drug Rackets and “Doctor Shopping”

April 26, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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.

Baltimore, Maryland Pharmacist Sentenced for Selling Illegal Prescription Drugs to Dealer

April 23, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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.

Pharmacy Error in English-Spanish translated Drug Labels and Instructions

April 19, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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.”

Doctors Discover Millions of Patients Got Heart Pills Unapproved by F.D.A.

April 1, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent article from the New York Times that our Washington D.C. Pharmacy Error Injury Attorneys have been following, U.S. doctors who have written over four million nitroglycerin tablet prescriptions, the drugs frequently used to reduce chest pain and stop heart attacks, have recently discovered that a large percentage of the drugs that have been sold to patients have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) for sale, safety, or effectiveness.

According to the article, many doctors have recently discovered that their patients were given unapproved heart medication tablets, and they are unable to know whether the patients have experienced suffering, or any unnecessary personal injury as a result of the unapproved drugs. Dr. Harry M. Lever from the Cleveland Clinic claimed that if angina patients took nitroglycerin tablets that were possibly ineffective or substandard, they may not experience a diminishing of the pain, and the heart problem could lead to a heart attack, or wrongful death.

Nitroglycerin is regularly prescribed for relieving chest pain that comes with coronary artery disease. When the tablet is placed under the tongue, the medicine dissolves into the bloodstream quickly and dilates the coronary artery, which can decrease blood pressure slightly and reduce the heart’s exertion. When patients take nitroglycerin at the first signs of chest pain, cardiologists claim that heart attacks can be prevented.

The F.D.A. sent letters last week to two major nitroglycerin drug makers, Konec Inc., and Glenmark Generics Inc., warning them that they must stop selling the unapproved drugs. Although the F.D.A. claims that it has not examined the quality of the unapproved nitroglycerin products in question, it does have documented problems of other nitroglycerin products in the past.

AHRQ Tips for Preventing Medical Mistakes with Children

March 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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.

Keeping Children Safe—Eliminating Mistakes from the Children’s Healthcare Industry

March 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In our last blog, our Maryland Attorneys from Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, 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.

Eight-Year Old Injured After Pharmacy Error and Prescription Misfill

March 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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.

Wrongful Death Award Upheld—Walgreens to Pay Family $33 Million in Damages

March 15, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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.

ISMP Reports of New Medication Errors Leading to Drug Omissions

March 1, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A recent article from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) that our Maryland-based medication error attorneys have been reading reported that the order management scanning system (OMSS) technology that was created to improve the efficiency and safety of the drug ordering process for doctors and pharmacies, is now experiencing error-prone problems that are leading to medication errors, drug omissions and missed drug therapy in patients.

OMSS is a technology that was created to capture a digital image of a handwritten or printed prescription order and send it to the pharmacy—eliminating faxing, the use of a courier, or the use of pneumatic tubes to transport the information to the pharmacist. The idea behind OMSS was to accelerate the time the prescription hit the pharmacy, speed up the prescription filling process, with electronic filling, easy retrieval of scanned orders, and reduce the risk of transcription errors because the order can be magnified. Unfortunately, according to the article, these OMSS benefits are null and void if the pharmacy never receives the prescription orders.

The problem that is reportedly occurring is that multiple pages of orders are being pulled through the scanner at the same time, and the scanner is only reading a single page at a time—a problem that has also plagued pharmacies with faxing or copying orders in the past. When this problem occurs, staff may not be aware that only one page was scanned, and the pharmacist may not be aware that they should have received multiple pages of orders. As a result, drug omissions can take place, leading to medication mistakes or missed drug therapy.

In one documented case, a physician wrote three pages of admission orders for a patient suffering from lung cancer, as well as difficile colitis and fever. When the orders were scanned with OMSS, the pharmacy only received two pages of the orders, because one page was not pulled through. Neither the nurse who administered the medication the physician, nor the pharmacist noticed the prescription error and omission. The drugs prescribed on the missing page were seizure medications. By the forth day of receiving only a fraction of the medication, the patient was exhibiting behavior that lead the emergency response team to determine that the patient was having a seizure. The patient was transferred to critical care unit, where the doctor figured out the pharmacy mistake, and although the patient required intubation, he ultimately experienced a full recovery.

New Legislation for the Safe Disposal of Nursing Home Resident Drugs

February 26, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent news story that our Maryland Medication Error Attorneys have been following, state legislators across the country have proposed bills that are aiming for the disposal of unused or expired medicine at nursing homes, for resident health and safety and the protection of the environment

According to ABC News, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington have all proposed new legislation that is trying to address the issue of dealing with excess and expired prescription medicine from nursing homes that end up in landfills and water sources every year, or if accidentally accessed by residents or other people, can cause serious harm or personal injury.

The Associated Press did a study in 2009, and reported that at least 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated medication packaging are generated in medical facilities every year. Some states are working on bills that would give nursing homes a choice to donate unused medication to charities in other countries. Other states are trying to send the unused medication back to the prescription drug manufacturers, with ‘take back’ programs, returning the responsibility back to the pharmaceutical company for disposal.

When a prescription is written for a resident in a nursing home, the pills aren’t reportedly dispensed in the same way that they are in a pharmacy. When the prescription is ordered for a nursing home resident, the pharmaceutical companies allegedly ship out 30-day supply cards, with each pill nestled in a small bubble pocket so nurses can easily pop the pill out of the card. If the patient has a bad reaction to the medication, if the patient passes away, or there is a medication mistake with the prescription, the medicine is most likely thrown out.