Attorney Blog

Pharmacists Warn of Dangerous Drug Interactions

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

A recent paper discusses controversial drug-drug interactions: how serious they are, when doctors should prescribe these medications, and how they could affect patients.

In the July issue of Pharmacy Times, two pharmacists examined the history of several drugs known to cause serious reactions when taken with specific medications.

Warfarin (Coumadin) and Acetaminophen.This interaction was first reported when the drug was released in the 1960s; unfortunately, researchers are still undecided on the effects to the patient. Until conclusive studies say it is safe, patients on Warfarin should be advised to minimize their acetaminophen intake as much as possible while taking it.
Oral Contraceptives and Antibiotics. Since antibiotics may lessen the effects of birth control, patients are encouraged to use alternative contraception during (and one month after) a course of antibiotics.
Enbrel (Etanercept) and Prednisone. The rheumatoid arthritis injection Enbrel decreases a patient’s ability to fight infections and increases the risk of viral, bacterial, or fungal infections. This risk is nearly doubled when patients use Prednisone or other steroids for more than two weeks.

The authors of the paper acknowledge that that many different drug interaction studies exist, many with conflicting results. That is why it is important that patients minimize their risks as much as possible by providing pharmacists and doctors with a full medication history before taking any new medication. All health care providers should be aware of all drugs, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, and supplements their patients take.

The study concludes that doctors should also provide information sheets for every prescription patients take, encourage patients to read labels, and inform them of any potential interactions before administering medication. This way, patients can be aware of what to expect and discontinue treatment at the earliest sign of symptoms before serious injury occurs.

FDA Warns Pharmacists to AVOID Drug Interaction Errors

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

You’ve probably noticed that the pharmacy attendant will ask you if you have any questions when you pick up a prescription. This new method of informing patients may have cut down on medication mistakes, but is by no means the only question the pharmacy should ask.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, pharmacists must ask at least five specific questions to AVOID harmful medication errors, including:

· A: Allergies. Pharmacists must ask patients for a full history of allergies, including adverse reactions to a drug. Since many patients are aware they have allergies, pharmacists should ask “if there is any drug that has ever caused an ill-effect for any reason” and encourage the patient to discuss why.
· V: Vitamins and herbs. Many herbal supplements cause drug interactions, so pharmacists must specifically ask if patients are taking any vitamins or natural products.
· O: OTC and old medications. Patients should inform pharmacists of any over-the-counter drugs they are taking, as well as former medications. Drugs can stay in the body for a long time, and can still cause a drug on drug interaction weeks after the patient has stopped taking them.
· I: Interaction information. No matter how small the risk may be, patients must still be educated on potential adverse drug interactions before they start taking a new medication.
· D: Dependence. Patients should be counseled on the importance of sticking to their health care regimens, informing the pharmacist of any changes or reactions, and be aware of the risks of drug dependence.

In addition to using the AVOID method, health care providers should also complete a full family history outlining problems with any medications to determine whether any specific mediation issues are particular to your family. If any of your relatives react badly to blood thinners, for example, your doctor should take care when prescribing them.

If someone you love was injured by a pharmacist’s negligence, our pharmacy error lawyers can help.
Call Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616 to set up a FREE consultation with a board-certified medication error attorney.

Three Patients Overdose Due to Medication Errors in Pennsylvania Hospital

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Research by the Pennsylvania Health Department has discovered three separate cases of wrong dosage errors at an Allentown hospital due to nurses incorrectly programming the IV pumps that administer pain medication.

According to the health department report, the three overdoses occurred at St. Luke's Hospital between 2010 and 2011. One patient required additional treatment as a result of the error; another died soon after the mistake took place.

The computerized pumps are designed to let patients administer doses of pain medication to themselves throughout their stay. When the errors were discovered, several St. Luke's employees told the investigators that the hospital did not provide annual training on how to use the pumps.

"The cumulative effect of these systemic problems resulted in the hospital's inability to ensure the provision of quality health care in a safe environment," the Pennsylvania Health Department report said.

Carol Kuplen, chief nursing officer for St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network, responded to the report in a statement, attesting that the events in question "were promptly reported to all the appropriate individuals and regulatory agencies as outlined in our Network Patient Safety Plan." The statement also said that nurses have since been retrained on using the machines.

In the case of the fatal overdose, the patient was recovering from hernia surgery when he received five times the intended dosage of morphine. The man was supposed to receive six milligrams over two hours, but was given 30 milligrams due to a pump programming error.

Although the patent died a day after the error, a coroner ruled that the death was not a result of the overdose, but rather because the man was morbidly obese and had an enlarged heart.

Safe Med Program Helps Reduce Drug Error Cases in Older Patients

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Another program has been introduced to reduce patient readmissions due to medication errors, this time in North Carolina. The Novant Health Safe Med program has reduced readmission rates among older patients by nearly half, says Terri Cardwell, RPh, PharmD, MHA, Director of Safe Med at the Novant Medical Group.

The program works like this: hospital pharmacists are given a list of patients aged 65 years and older every week who have recently been discharged. The pharmacist then calls each patient for a one-on-one drug consultation to answer the patient’s questions and ask about potential concerns or side effects.

The patient also receives a packet containing a personalized medication list, educational paperwork and emergency phone numbers. The pharmacist then finishes the assessment by sending an updated medication profile and laboratory results to the patient’s primary care physician. Thirty days later, the pharmacist repeats the call to ensure the patient is coping with the medication regimen.

“The purpose is to work with the patient to ensure understanding of what their medications are once they get home,” Cardwell said. “We want to make sure that any concern the patient brings up with the pharmacist is taken care of, including making an appointment for them with a physician, if necessary.”

The program began in 2006 and has involved nearly 10,400 patients. Recent data shows that 8% of patients who did not receive counseling from a Safe Med pharmacist were readmitted within 30 days of discharge, compared with less than 3% of Safe Med-counseled patients. Cardwell says the program not only helps patients take control of their health, it also saves the hospital money—an estimated $3.3 million in 2009 alone.

If you have experienced a pharmaceutical injury, get legal advice from a board-certified prescription error lawyer today. Order a FREE copy of our book, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors, by filling out the form on this page, or call Kennedy Hodges at 888-526-7616 to start your free consultation.

Wrong Medication Error Causes Injury after Eye Surgery

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

A patient was seriously injured when a pharmacy error caused him to drop wart remover into his eyes following surgery.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released the medication error report late last year. The victim, who was recovering from ocular surgery, was prescribed the topical corticosteroid Durezol to treat eye inflammation and pain. Unfortunately, the pharmacist gave the patient Durasal, a wart remover containing salicylic acid. Neither the patient nor the pharmacist noticed the mistake in time, leading to a caustic eye injury.

The FDA released a warning after the incident alerting pharmacists to the similarity between the two drug brand names. According to their data, several dispensing mistakes have occurred since the two medications were released onto the market, though many were caught before injury occurred.

Durezol is an FDA-approved difluprednate ophthalmic emulsion from Sirion Therapeutics. The wart remover Durasal, from Elorac Inc., was released without approval by the FDA, so the sound-alike drug error was not recognized before the drug was made available to the public.

In response to the health safety issue, the FDA has asked Elorac Inc. to remove Durasal from the market. The distributor has not yet responded to the request, nor have they recalled the product despite the FDA's warning about potential patient risk.

If you need legal advice on your wrong medication lawsuit, order a FREE copy of our book, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors, by filling out the form on this page.

To speak directly to a board-certified drug injury lawyer, call Kennedy Hodges at 888-526-7616 for a free consultation.

Morphine Use a Common Factor in Hospital Medication Errors, Report Says

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Despite efforts to educate pharmacists and physicians about its proper use, the morphine derivative hydromorphone (commonly known as Dilaudid) continues to be cited as a source of medication errors in hospitals.

“[Dilaudid] continues to be associated with patient harm in many hospitals and health systems,” said Matthew Grissinger, Director of ISMP’s Error Reporting Programs.

Hydromorphone is used in many medical facilities to manage moderate to acute pain in recovering patients. A report by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority estimates that nearly 1,700 hydromorphone errors were reported in a two-year period, with only 30% corrected before they reached the patient. A Canadian study reported 251 patient deaths in the 1990s due to fatal hydromorphone overdoses.

Grissinger believes there are multiple factors leading to the high rate of morphine errors. Firstly, many errors are due to overdose. When the patient has an adverse reaction to the amount of drug, he or she is given another drug, such as naloxone, to counteract the effects. The practice has become so common that the overdose either goes unreported or is seen as an unavoidable error, thereby missing an opportunity to correct the procedure and increasing the hospital’s risk of prescription drug error lawsuits.

The second problem is packaging. Hydromorphone is about seven times stronger than a regular morphine IV, but the drugs have similar packaging. As a result, many health care providers believe there is no difference between them, or that one is a brand name and one is a generic form—an error that may be prevented by highlighting the painkiller’s prefix (HYDROmorphone, for example. Lastly, the two drugs are made available in the same dosage forms, making it easy to confuse them.

Intravenous Painkillers Often Given in Wrong Doses to Children

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Young people receiving a new intravenous form of acetaminophen (Tylenol) are at a high risk of IV overdose, two Denver researchers warn.

In their recent report, Richard C. Dart, M.D., Ph.D., from Denver Health, and Barry H. Rumack, M.D., from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver found that IV painkillers are regularly the cause of medication errors in children, including infants and neonates. The report was published in this month’s issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Drs. Dart and Rumack uncovered some startling facts about acetaminophen IV use:

Most child overdose events were the result of dosage calculation in milligrams and administered via 10 mg/mL solution in milliliters, causing a 10-fold dosing error.
The effects of these errors are similar to an oral overdose.
Many of these cases are preventable, since there is a strong pattern that can tell doctors and nurses when to anticipate an error.

In order to prevent these errors from taking place, Drs. Dart and Rumack pose a number of recommendations to health care providers administering IV acetaminophen. First, any injectable acetaminophen concentration should be drawn as soon as possible, but no longer than four hours after the start of the infusion.

Second, doctors should begin treatment with acetylcysteine immediately if the serum acetaminophen concentration falls above the treatment line. Acetylcysteine will counteract the effects of overdose, but the error should still be reported so that the data will be available for future evaluation.

Lastly, pharmacists and medical staff should always write IV concentration dosages in both milligrams and milliliters to avoid confusing the amount and the volume.

Checking Pictures of Medications Saves Patients from Pharmacy Errors

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Two patients in Florida narrowly avoided prescription drug error lawsuits by checking the medication they received against a photo of the drug—and finding that the two weren’t a match.

One patient was saved by the pharmacy’s method of labeling each drug with a description of the medication, including color, size, shape and numeric code printed on the pill.

“I checked the tablets and discovered that the bottle contained the wrong medicine,” the patient reported. “The color and shape were right, but the tablets were stamped with the wrong code.”

When the patient returned to the pharmacy to confirm the mistake, the pharmacist confirmed that he had been given the wrong pill; it was the correct medication, but the dosage was four times higher than his own prescription.

Another pharmacy customer reported an incident that took place over a decade ago, but could have cost her son his life.

The young man refilled his usual prescription for an anti-seizure medication and was taking it three times a day. He noticed a minor change in the pill, but didn’t think it was cause for alarm.

A few days later, he told his mother he was feeling unwell. When she looked up the medication in the image section of a drug reference book, his mother found that he had been taking Lasix, a powerful diuretic, instead of his anticonvulsant medication.

The man survived, but only because he was rushed to the emergency department and given an IV of potassium. “The doctor told me if my son had let this go another 24 hours, his heart would have stopped, and my son would have died,” the woman said.

Medical Student Training Helps Reduce Texas Medication Errors for Children

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Although studies show that the majority of prescription drug errors in children’s hospitals involve recently graduated doctors, medical students receive little training in drug error safety until they start post-graduate work.

Most errors occur from a variety of factors, including medical system paperwork issues, calculating dosages, and prescribing, dispensing and administering drugs. The most common causes of children’s drug errors often involve a miscalculation of the patient’s weight, misinterpretation of dosage, and skipping or adding doses.

Johns Hopkins Children’s Center responded to this problem by requiring medical students to compete a drug safety course early in their training. Students responded so well to the pilot program that they requested it to be a regular part of the curriculum, and it is now a required course.

As a result of the training:

76 percent of students who took the course said they were more willing to report such errors to colleagues, teachers and hospital officials after the course was complete.
89 percent of students reported a better understanding that they will witness other medical professionals making errors at some point in their practice.
79 percent of students acknowledged they themselves are likely to make mistakes, a necessary step in error prevention.
75 percent of students said they now felt comfortable reporting medication errors to hospital authorities after taking the course, compared to only 50 percent before the training.

While new drug safety programs are being instituted every day, there will always be a risk of pediatric medication errors in Texas. If your child was harmed by a medication mistake in Houston, our board-certified Texas pharmacy error attorneys can help.

Call Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616 for a free consultation, or fill out the confidential form on this page. We will also send you a FREE copy of our book,How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.

Hospital's Follow-Up Program May Reduce Its Number of Harmful Drug Errors

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

A Philadelphia hospital has drastically reduced the number of readmissions from cardiac patients with a new patient outreach program.

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital keeps its discharged patients in regular contact with a pharmacist, saving them from the cost and injury ofprescription drug error lawsuits. The initiative, which began in 2010, was loosely modeled on Boston University Medical Center’s RED (Re-Engineered Discharge) program wherein pharmacists call recently discharged patients to go over their medications orders. The RED program reduced readmission rates of cardiac patients by 30%, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The procedure is fairly simple: before discharge, patients are taught to keep a medication log detailing the names of the drugs they take, dosages, and any special instructions. Before they leave the hospital, a pharmacist goes over the paperwork with the patient and gives him information on how to reorder the prescription, possible serious symptoms, and whom to contact if something goes wrong. Pharmacists also discuss the patient’s diet and exercise regimen, taking note of any problems particular to the patient’s living environment.

The patient is also given a seven-day pillbox at the time of discharge. In the next 30 days, pharmacists call the patient five separate times: on days 2, 7, 14, 21 and 30. During these calls, pharmacists confirm upcoming doctor’s visits, discuss any questions or difficulties, and check up on the patient’s condition. This inexpensive approach saves the hospital money on readmissions, saves the patient money and injury risk, and may be the best defense against cardiac medication mistakes.

If you have questions about your drug error injury case, call Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616 for a free consultation.

How a hospital bar code could save your life

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Pharmaceutical companies release hundreds of new drugs to the market every year. The number of Americans using prescriptions is increasing rapidly as the population ages, but there is one method that hospitals have yet to implement nationwide in order to reduce hundreds of cases of patient suffering.

It’s not a new drug or a new treatment. It’s a bar code. Yes, the same type you see in the supermarket. Several hospitals have already adopted systems that include a bar code on a patient’s ID bracelet, but there is no requirement to do so.

A bar code implements several safety protocols before administering drugs, including:

Scanning and matching the medication with the patient id bracelet.
Scanning barcodes on patient wristbands assures positive patient identification.

Hospitals that do not use the bar codes leave a lot of room for medication errors. A bar code is one step to making reducing the amount of medication mistakes.

Medication errors harm thousands in the U.S. every year

Medication errors remain an ongoing problem in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 82 percent of U.S. adults take at least one medication and $3.5 billion is spent annually on drug-related injuries.

Bar code medication administration systems can improve medication safety by verifying that the right drug is being administered to the right patient.

Bar code systems reduce hospital error rates

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, bar-code systems have substantially reduced the error rates in medication administration as well as potential adverse drug events.

Barcode technology has only recently been used for patient safety in hospitals, but it has shown impressive gains in reducing medication errors.

If you or someone you love have been the victim of a prescription error or medication error, order our free book to educate yourself on your rights. You can also contact our experienced attorneys at 1-888-526-7616 for a free, no obligation, case review.

Hospitals see 60 percent drop in errors when doctors use electronic prescriptions

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Messy handwriting contributes to prescription errors across the country. When a doctor’s illegible handwriting gets to the pharmacy, pharmacy employees are often at a loss as to what the script is. When this happens, pharmacists are supposed to double check the prescription with the doctor.

Eliminating pen and paper reduces errors.

A recent study highlighted just how often errors occur when doctors send over messy handwritten prescriptions to the pharmacy. The study on hospital errors found that when doctors switch to electronic prescriptions instead of pen and paper, errors drop by 60 percent. The study tracked medication errors in two Australian hospitals before and after installing electronic prescription systems.

Electronic system reduces errors overall

A doctor’s messy handwriting is just one of many ways that prescription errors can happen. A significant amount of mistakes occur every year because of:

The study concluded that, in general, the software reduced errors across the board. The software can hold unique patient data that gives warning messages to doctors.

Hospitals slow to implement improved electronic systems

With such an improvement in catching errors, it is a wonder that hospitals across the country do not all adopt the practice of electronic prescribing. But there is no federal requirement to do so, and many hospitals find the new systems expensive.

Free resources for prescription error victims.

Every year, people suffer prescription mistakes that can cause life-altering injuries, and sometimes even death. If you or someone you love have been a victim of a prescription error, order our free book to educate yourself on your rights. You can also contact our pharmacy attorneys at 1-888-526-7616 to review your case free of charge.

Order now: How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors

Nurses Discover Fewer Hospital Drug Errors with Barcode System

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Nurses at Adirondack Medical Center are getting used to a new way to deliver healthcare: electronically.
The new barcode scanning technology is part of Adirondack Health’s new Bedside Medication Verification system at the Saranac Lake hospital. The program, designed to prevent nurses giving incorrect doses of medication, went on-line in all inpatient areas last September.
"We're checking every med with the patient's identification, so we aren't going to give any medications that aren't scheduled or ordered," said Kelly Burnett, an AMC registered nurse. "Less med errors, that's the primary use of it."
Under the BMV system, every patient receives a "unique identifier number" upon admission, which is a barcode printed on their wristband. All medication doses that come from the hospital pharmacy are also marked with their own individual barcodes. Barcode scanners are attached to computers on portable hospital carts, which nurses take with them on medication rounds.
Before a nurse administers medication, she scans the patient's wristband then scans the medication. The system checks the order against the physician’s instructions, which are entered into the machine electronically.
If the dose and the patient are a match, the nurse administers the medication; if there’s a problem, a warning message flashes on the screen.
In addition to reducing instances of "human error," Hospital Pharmacy Director Tom Smith also believes patients are happier because nurses now spend more time at their bedside.
"Before, the nurses really had to go back to a central medication room to get their meds," Smith said. "This whole system has helped moved the nurses closer to the bedside so they're not hiking down the hall anytime they need something."

Medication Errors Run Rampant in Long-Term Care Facilities

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

A recent UK study found that one in every 15 hospital admissions of care home residents are due to medication errors, with the cost of hospital stays reaching nearly $2 billion per year.
The study was the first large-scale program of its kind. Researchers tracked all medications given to 345 elderly residents across thirteen UK care homes for three months. The data showed that 90% of nursing home residents suffered medication errors at least once, and over half of residents were exposed to serious or harmful errors (such as giving a patient the wrong medication).
Nearly 200,000 separate medication administrations were analyzed in an effort to track down the major causes of error. The study revealed that residents received an average of nine different medications, exposing each patient to 206 medication administrations per month. During the three-month study, each resident experienced 6 potential errors, with the most common being an attempt to give a medication at the wrong time.
There are a few reasons why the error rate in care homes is so high. Ala Szczepura, Professor of Health Services Research at Warwick Medical School, commented, “It is known that staff in care homes are administering, on average, seven different drugs to residents, and that medication rounds occupy approximately one-third of nursing time.”
Another reason is the resident’s inability to take control of their own medical care, since approximately 37% of people suffering from dementia in the UK now live in residential care homes and cannot voice their concerns about their medications. In these cases, automated systems may prove more effective at preventing error.
“New technology [such as barcode systems] can accurately alert staff to, and prevent, inappropriate attempts to administer drugs to residents. This tool can reliably be used by care staff as well as nurses to improve quality of care and patient safety,” Szczepura remarked.

Minneapolis Hospital Director Gets Proactive on Medication Errors

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

A Minnesota hospital’s pharmacy services director has found a way to stop harmful medication errors before they happen, saving patients from potentially life-threatening prescription drug mistakes.
Director Bruce Thompson, ordered spot-checks of 37 patients who were recently discharged from Hennepin County Medical Center after a string of patient “bounce backs” pointed to medication errors. The staff found that the facility’s record left something to be desired: 92 percent of all medication orders had some kind of error.
For example, a kidney transplant patient was discharged from HCMC with an incorrect dose of antibiotics. Another patient who recently suffered a pulmonary embolism was sent home without a crucial blood thinner prescription. Both cases resulted in the patients returning to the hospital.
Thompson reported that the most common errors involved physicians prescribing an incorrect dose, patients taking duplicate medications or a lack of drug interaction detection. One-third of the potential mistakes were classified as “likely harmful."
The hospital instituted a new program in response: assign a pharmacist to check all discharge orders before patients are released from the hospital. In a little less than one year, the medication error rate has dropped to a negligible level and cut patient readmission rates in half.
Hennepin County Medical Center was celebrated for its results, garnering The Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ 13th annual "Cheers Award" for "excellence in the prevention" of medication errors.
Thompson has responded to calls from hospitals nationwide, encouraging them to start a similar program in their own facility. He also says that some doctors now start their prescriptions by calling the pharmacist to confirm and check the order.

Seattle pharmacies investigated for reselling secondhand drugs

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

FDA investigates Seattle pharmacies for allegedly reselling secondhand drugs to elderly.

Pharmacies in Seattle are under investigation for claims that they repackaged and sold used drugs to elderly patients. Part of the claims include that the pharmacy owners collected used drugs from patients who had died at long-term care facilities and repackaged and resold the medications.

The Food and Drug Administration is leading the investigation and court documents reveal that a former manager reported the pharmacy for reselling used drugs to elderly patients.

According to investigators, some of the drugs were collected from residents after they died then repacked and sold as new to other patients in long-term care. The former manager also claimed that the pharmacy charged Medicaid full price for drugs they got as free samples.

Some of the pharmacies involved were:

Scrips LTC Pharmacy in Seattle, and
Custom Prescription Shoppe in Bellingham.

Investigators have not disclosed how many patients were affected by the second-hand drugs.

How safe is your prescription?
Pharmacies have a duty of care to patients to fill prescriptions accurately and safely. When they breach that duty of care you are put at risk in dangerous, and sometimes fatal, ways.

A pharmacist’s job is to prevent mistakes and ensure that patients receive the correct medicine. This is an example of a gross breach of that duty of care and they should be held accountable for their actions.

Order our free book if you or a loved one have suffered because of a pharmacy’s negligence.
Order our free book, How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors, if you want to know more about pharmacy errors. Our experienced pharmacy error attorneys are here to help if you need to discuss your options. Call us toll-free at 1-888-526-7616 to start a free, no obligation case review. You can also send us a confidential contact form to tell us about your case.

Safeway Pharmacy Gives Wrong Medicine to Expectant Mother

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

A Colorado Safeway gave a young expectant mother Methotrexate instead of an antibiotic, simply because the names of Ms. Silva and the other customer were similar. She got sick and went to the hospital, where the mistake was discovered.

The Danger of This Drug
Methotrexate is a chemotherapy drug which is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Ms. Silva took only one pill, but she still has a 50/50 chance of miscarriage, or having a baby with severe problems because of the Methotrexate she thought was an antibiotic.

Mistakes like this happen every day in this country, and the sad fact is, these pharmacies really don’t care unless they are sued. Their pocketbook is all that is important to them.

When the Incident Took Place
This incident took place in February, 2011. It is not known if she was able to maintain her pregnancy, or if the resulting child was healthy. We certainly hope everything turned out well, and that mother and baby are doing fine.

What to Do if This Happens to You
When medication errors like this occur, you should go directly to the hospital, whether you feel sick or not. There could be severe consequences for anyone taking the wrong drug, even if they only took one dose.

You should contact a board certified attorney immediately.

Reporting the Pharmacist to your state’s board of pharmacy will do little good. These boards tend to let the statutes of limitation run nearly out before they begin an investigation, and they never share their results, or whether there was disciplinary action with anyone not on the board, or the Pharmacist himself. Since help from a state agency isn’t going to happen, what do you do?

Contact our office for a free consultation.
Call our office to have one of our board certified attorneys review your case. It is important to make sure you know your rights. There is no obligation and no cost. Simply send us a confidential contact form, or contact us toll-free at: 1-888-526-7616 today to tell us about your case.

Nurses Help Patients Speak Up About Hospital Drug Errors

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

The American Society of Hospital Pharmacists realizes that there are many people who may have an influence on a prescription before it reaches a patient. This is especially true in hospitals, since nurses are not only overseeing your medication but the medication of numerous other patients—and a prescription drug error in these circumstances can be fatal.
In order to reduce the risk of medication errors in hospitals, nurses are advised not only to double check all medications before administering, but also to interact with the patient to make sure he stays informed about his health care.
A few ways the ASHP recommends nurses educate patients about their medications:

Nurses should discuss the use and dosage of all medications with a patient (or a patient’s caregiver) and make sure the patient understands how much of each medication he normally receives. Patients should also know why they are taking each medication and beware of any drug interactions, allergies or special instructions.
If a patient raises questions about a medication at any point, nurses must listen, answer to the best of their ability and double-check the medication order if the patient thinks it may be incorrect.
If a patient objects to a medication or method of treatment, his decision should be discussed with his physician and documented in his patient records

To learn more about what you can do after a hospital medication mistake, contact the board-certified pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

New Program Gets Fast Data on Prescription Drug Mistakes

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

A new study could help gather valuable information about medication errors, thanks to the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP).
The pilot study, presented at the ACCP’s annual meeting, displayed information on pharmacy medication errors gathered from several pharmacists in various clinical practice settings across the country.
The results are due to the initiative of the Practice-Based Research Network, a program adopted by the ACCP Research Institute last year. Pharmacies elect to be members of the reporting program, allowing the ACCP to gather data faster than other national information sources. With over 700 member pharmacists, the ACCP can now conduct large-scale investigations into clinical pharmacy practice.
The first study discovered that 779 medication errors occurred over a 14-day period in 2010, with over 70 PBRN pharmacists reporting across inpatient and outpatient settings. The study, called MEDAP, or Medication Error Detection, Amelioration and Prevention, also found that 61% of errors occurred in inpatient care settings, while 39% occurred in outpatient settings (including clinics and patient homes).
The investigation was not just a new way to track errors. Grace M. Kuo, PharmD, MPH, PhD, the study’s lead author, said the objective was to find new strategies to prevent medication mistakes from happening in the first place.
“The advantage in having a practice-based network is that together, we have a large sample size,” Dr. Kuo said. Additionally, “we are able to complete a large study in very quick turnaround time. Imagine this: If I study 100 patients in two months here in San Diego and 10 other pharmacists around the country do the same, then together we will have more than a thousand patients.”
If someone you love has suffered a prescription error, we can help. Contact the board-certified pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616 for a free case evaluation.

Reading the Packaging Can Prevent a Medication Error

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Many people drive their cars everyday without ever reading the manual or plug in new appliances and throw the instructions out with the box. So, it is any wonder that people often take medications for years without ever reading the instructions in the package?
Doctors and pharmacists have often recommended that patients read the medication inserts that come with their prescriptions. In addition to keeping patients informed about their care, these instructions can help patients detect an error before it happens.
Another advantage to the written drug information is that it can be used for reference if the original instructions from a doctor or pharmacist are forgotten. They are also included in over-the-counter medications, which is useful for those who did not seek a pharmacist’s advice before purchase.
To make sure all patients can understand the information, all package inserts are required to follow a standard format and include the same groups of information. Manufacturers may vary the format somewhat, but most leaflets look much like the standardized nutritional facts labels on food items. Many have even gone one step further for comprehension, renaming sections such as “contraindications” to “who should not take this medication?” to draw a patient’s eye to important information.
In a recent case, a Nigerian doctor received a phone call from one of his regular patients. The woman was receiving treatment in the US.., and a physician prescribed a drug that was not supposed to be taken by a woman who was breastfeeding. It was only by reading the leaflet that came with the medication that she was able to avoid a potentially-harmful prescription drug mistake.

Florida Pharmacies Under Fire for Refusing to Fill Painkiller Medications

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Can pharmacies combat prescription drug abuse by refusing to fill orders? Some pharmacies in Florida seem to think so.

Some CVS and Walgreen’s locations in Florida are refusing to fill oxycodone prescriptions for patients they believe are abusing the medication. The pharmacies have stated that oxycodone is often overprescribed by doctors, and while it helps people cope with chronic pain, it is highly addictive.

Florida has an estimated sale of 400 million tablets of oxycodone every year, the highest of any state in the U.S.

Patients have lashed out against the pharmacies, understandably upset by the refusal to fill much-needed pain prescriptions. However, the pharmacies maintain that they are only fulfilling their duty to protect patents from unnecessary medication.

CVS reportedly sent letters to a number of Florida doctors informing them that they will no longer fill any narcotic prescriptions they order. Additionally, Walgreen’s could not provide any specific reason why its Lee County, FL locations are refusing these prescriptions, saying only that they “allow [their] pharmacists to use their professional judgment when dispensing all medications.”

As trusted Houston pharmacy error lawyers, we support the fight against prescription drug abuse. However, we do not believe innocent people must be forced to suffer because the pharmacy will not dispense their pain medication.

If you believe that your pharmacist is guilty of malpractice, contact a board-certified medication error lawyer at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

FDA Implements Bar Codes to Reduce Prescription Drug Errors

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

If you’ve been a victim of a medication error in a hospital, we’ve got good news: the FDA is implementing an error-proof system that’s as easy as the wave of a wand.
In late 2002, the FDA proposed that hospital nurses use a simple barcode scanning system to ensure that the Five Rights are followed: the right drug, in the right dose, by the right route, is given to the right patient at the right time.
Here’s how it works: all patients receive a bar-coded ID wristband when they are admitted to the hospital. Before nurses may administer medications, they must scan both the patient's wristband and the medication label. Information will be transmitted to a laptop computer using unique identifying information, confirming—or prohibiting—dosage.
"Before giving medications, nurses use the scanner to pull up a patient's full name and social security number on the laptops, along with the medications," said Lottie Lockett, R.N., an administrator at the Houston VA Medical Center. "If there is not a match, a warning box pops up on the screen."
The barcode rule took effect April 26, 2004 and applies to both prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications. All drug manufacturers must provide a barcode label with complete prescribing information, and if drugs are repackaged, the barcode must be reapplied as well.
To get legal advice on your prescription error case, call a board-certified pharmacy error lawyer at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Joint Commission Encourages Kids to Speak Up about Medication Errors

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Thousands of children suffer prescription errors every year, many of which go undetected until the child has suffered severe side effects or until the adult notices the mistake on the prescription label.
But the Joint Commission thinks that these errors may be caught earlier by teaching children to take charge of their own heath care.
The Joint Commission has created a new pediatric section of their award-winning Speak Up program, which offers posters and handouts on patient safety. The program advises children to be involved and informed about their own health care with an easy-to-remember mnemonic:
Speak up if you have questions, and ask until you get an answer.

Pay attention to what happens in the doctor’s office.
Educate yourself about what’s happening to you.

Ask an adult or family member to ask questions and explain things to you.

Know what medicines you take and why you take them.

Use a good hospital with doctors you trust. Ask your parents why they picked where you go.
Participate in all decisions about your treatment.
The Speak Up program was created in 2002 and now has 17 different brochures printed in both English and Spanish. Their hope is that by raising awareness, illness and side effects can be avoided even when pharmacists make mistakes. For more patient information, parents can order a copy of our FREE book, “How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.”
If one of your children was injured by a medication mistake, get free consultation with a board-certified medication error lawyer by calling Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Walgreen's Gives Colorado Boy Adult Dosage of Medication

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

A mother in Colorado is outraged after her local Walgreen’s was responsible for her child’s medication overdose.

The mistake took place last week in Aurora, CO, when Cher Gillespie filled her son's usual prescription for Singulair at her neighborhood Walgreen’s. Her 4-year-old boy, A.J., had suffered from asthma since the day he was born and took the tablet form of the drug.

Gillespie picked up the order and gave the medication to her son as always. When she gave it to A.J., however, he said that it tasted terrible. The remark prompted Gillespie to double-check the medication: to her surprise, the label description didn’t match the pill in the bottle.

When she called Walgreens to find out why they didn't fill her son's regular prescription, she found out that he had received Singulair, but in an adult dose—nearly three times stronger than what A.J. had been prescribed.

"It's really scary because you put the life of your child pretty much in the pharmacist's hands," Gillespie told reporters.

Walgreens released a boilerplate statement in response to the incident:

"Cases like this are rare and we take them very seriously. We're sorry this occurred and we apologized to the family. We have a multi-step prescription filling process with numerous safety checks in each step to reduce the chance of human error. We will investigate what happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening again."

According to the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, seven different Walgreens stores in Colorado have received the board’s disciplinary action this year.

Mail-Order Pharmacies May Be Safer and Less Expensive, Reports Say

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Many consumers opt for mail-service pharmacies because of their low costs and convenience. But new reports say that these 90-day prescriptions may save you more than a trip to the drugstore:

The Journal of General Internal Medicine discovered that patients who get prescriptions through a mail-order pharmacy have better cholesterol control than those who get their medication from a local pharmacy.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed the potential savings for federal employees using mail-service pharmacies for generic prescriptions. The average mail-order price of generic drugs was about 27% below the price paid for a brand name at a retail pharmacy—and 53% percent below the average paid for generic drugs.
The Journal Pharmacotherapy found that highly-automated pharmacies filled scrips with 23 times higher accuracy than retail pharmacies. In addition, the mail-service error rate was zero in many critical areas, including drug dispensing, dosage, and route of medication.
According to the American Journal of Managed Care, patients who got their prescription medications for chronic conditions through mail-order pharmacies were more likely to follow their medication instructions than patients who shopped at a pharmacy chain.

With the decreased rate of fatal medication errors and convenience of online ordering and delivery, mail-service pharmacies could prove to be serious competition for the retail chains. As another incentive to switch, many mail-service pharmacies also offer private, over-the-phone counseling from trained pharmacists seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

A Pharmacist's Role: Avoiding Texas Pharmacy Mistakes

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Many people don’t think much about the role of a pharmacist. While they are responsible for filling drug orders, asking if you have questions, and handing you your medication, a pharmacist’s duties extend much further behind the scenes.

According to the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, pharmacists must conform to the same role as a physician, seeking to improve the quality of service and reduce errors rather than just performing daily work tasks.

The ASHP suggests that pharmacists:

Keep records. Pharmacists should keep updated medication records for all customers. These should include identification information, a complete medication history, diagnoses of past conditions, and notes on allergies, medical alerts and potential drug interactions.
Stay up-to-date. In addition to keeping medical records on file, pharmacists should be aware of a patient’s current status and any changing conditions, such as pregnancy status, allergies, health fluctuations, recent blood results or medication changes.
Keep patients informed. Although patients may notice medication flyers at the pharmacy, they rarely pick them up and read them. A pharmacist should not only provide adequate drug information resources, he should read and explain them, especially if there are potential health risks.

To get more information on Houston pharmacist malpractice cases, order our FREE report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.

If someone you love has suffered as a pharmacy error, contact the board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Arizona Teenager Receives Cancer Medication Instead of Painkillers

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

A 16-year-old in Mesa, Arizona narrowly avoided serious side effects after a pharmacy gave out the wrong medication.

Sean O’Connor was supposed to receive pain medication for his recent wisdom tooth extraction. Sean had taken 17 of the pills the pharmacy gave him before the pharmacy called four days later to tell him they had made a mistake.

Instead of painkillers, Sean had been taking chemotherapy drugs.

“There was another guy at the pharmacy with my name … another Sean O’Connor, who apparently had cancer,” Sean remarked to the media.

Sean had a medical examination following the error which found his blood pressure was slightly elevated, but he was otherwise unharmed. If he had taken the drug longer, however, he could have suffered sterility.

“I think it would be hard to get older and never have kids,” Sean said.

Rate of Massachusetts prescription mistakes unchanged

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

State data reveals little improvement in wrong medication or medical errors.

Massachusetts state regulators recently released hospital safety data and found that the number of hospital patients who received the wrong medication, were seriously disabled or died from a fall, or had the wrong body part operated on, remained essentially unchanged in 2010 compared with 2009.

According to the numbers released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health:

In 2010, 512 patients suffered from a serious reportable event,
In 2009, 510 patients suffered from a serious reportable event.

A director of the department’s Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality said that, “Not everyone is reporting the same way so it’s hard for us to say we know what’s going on with safety and quality."

Massachusetts enacts treatment regulations for victims of serious hospital events
In 2009, Massachusetts was the first state to enact rules prohibiting hospitals from charging for treatment that was provided as a result of an adverse hospital event, such as a hip replacement after a fall.

A health advocate with Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley said she worries that hospitals might be underreporting serious events because they fear financial repercussions.
Errors are grossly underreported across the United States
Reporting errors in pharmacies and hospitals is an important step in drug error prevention, but errors are underreported across the United States. There is no federal requirement for these companies to report errors and any reporting is voluntary. Most people who are harmed by medical errors or pharmacy errors do not take action, so the number of errors is sporadic at best.
Have you suffered because of a medication mistake or prescription error?
Don’t suffer in silence. The only way to make pharmacies and hospitals pay attention to your voice is to file a lawsuit to hold them accountable for mistakes. By taking action you can make these corporations change their policies and prevent serious errors from happening to others.

Contact our office to have board certified personal injury attorneys review your case at no obligation. You can also order our free book to learn more about prescription errors and how to take action.

Risperdal $327 million penalty upheld in SC court

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

$327 million civil penalty against Johnson & Johnson upheld by South Carolina judge

In March of this year, a jury found Johnson & Johnson guilty of overstating the safety of its former bestseller antipsychotic, Risperdal. Now, a South Carolina judge has ruled that the $327 million civil penalty against the company should stand.
Risperdal was once bringing in billions of dollars in sales for J&J, but the company has faced lawsuits over improper marketing and marketing for off-label uses.

Consumer lawsuits over Risperdal side effects and off-label uses

Several states (including California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas) have filed against Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) for claims that the company failed to disclose serious risks including:

excessive weight gain,
increased stroke risk,
diabetes,
increased risk of death (for elderly dementia patients),
seizures,
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS), and
Tardive Dyskinesia.

Doctors prescribed the drug for many uses including Alzheimer’s, aggression and anxiety in elderly patients, but also for children with autism or behavioral disorders.

States have made allegations that the companies make misleading statements to doctors about the drug’s safety and paying doctors to prescribe the drug when they otherwise would not.

Have you or a loved one suffered after taking Risperdal?
If you have suffered the consequences of taking Risperdal you should contact a board certified lawyer immediately to investigate your case. Many consumers have filed lawsuits against the company for dangerous Risperdal side effects.

Contact our board certified personal injury attorneys today to discuss your case for free. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means if we don’t make a recovery in your case you do not owe us anything.

FAQ: Do I have a Risperdal lawsuit?

Nearly 500 Patients Receive Wrong Dose of Flu Vaccine

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Patients in Ireland may have to be re-vaccinated after 489 adults received the wrong dose of flu vaccine.
The error occurred as a result of a training mistake administered by Hibernian Healthcare, the company responsible for training pharmacists to deliver the vaccination. An incorrect dosage was given to pharmacists who attended the training program, stating that adults should be vaccinated with a dose of 0.25ml.
In actuality, 0.25ml is a pediatric dose of the flu vaccine, and adults should receive 0.5ml.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland published an interim report after the error stating that the pharmacists not only made a dosage error, they also used the incorrect injection technique. The society believes that in many of the cases, the pediatric dosing line on the vaccine barrel was accidentally interpreted as an adult dose.
Hibernian Healthcare discovered the mistake and contacted over 800 pharmacies individually to advise them on redosing the affected patients.

Nurse Who Gave Patient Wrong Medication Faces Lawsuit for Fatal Drug Error

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

A Miami hospital is facing a serious drug error lawsuit after a staff nurse gave an elderly man the wrong medication.

79-year-old Richard Smith was being treated for kidney disease at North Shore Medical Center in Miami. After he reported shortness of breath during a dialysis treatment, he was admitted to the ICU.

On July 30, 2010, Smith was prescribed a course of antacids to combat an upset stomach. When Smith’s son Marc arrived later that morning and found find him unconscious and hooked to a respirator, the nurse explained that Richard Smith had experienced a cardiac arrest.

The doctor explained to Marc Smith that Richard’s heart stopped after the nurse administered the wrong medication. Instead of an antacid, the nurse gave him pancuronium—a drug used during intubations to relax muscles. A powerful paralytic, pancuronium is also used in high doses to administer lethal injections.

Thirty minutes after the error, Richard Smith was found unconscious with no pulse. The doctors were able to restart his heart, but the loss of oxygen left him brain dead, and he remained in a coma until his death a month later.

According to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, there are a number of safeguards in place to prevent these errors—and Smith’s nurse would have had to ignore them in order to make a fatal mistake.

The nurse had said that the mistake occurred because the antacid and the paralytic had similar packaging, and he grabbed the wrong one. Per regulations, nurses are required to read medication labels, scan the package for dosage instructions, and match the patient ID to the medication. The nurse did not take any of these steps.

Although the hospital has removed pancuronium from nursing areas except the operating rooms, the nurse under investigation has not been suspended and is still working in the same unit where the error occurred.

Our condolences are extended to the Smith Family as they cope with the loss of their husband and father.

Medication Errors Just as Common and Dangerous in Hospitals

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Hospital Mix-Ups and Errors
Medication errors are just as common in hospitals as pharmacies. In 2009, within hours of each other, two Florida women were given the wrong drugs, and one lost her twins, and another gave birth prematurely, causing severe brain damage to the baby.

The Mix-Up
The women were supposed to have been given progesterone suppositories and be on bed rest according to doctor’s orders. Instead, nurses gave them a powerful drug used to expel miscarriages from the uterus. The twins were stillborn. The other baby was expelled into a toilet after hours of abdominal pain and cramping. Nurses told the five- and-a-half months pregnant woman that she just needed to have a bowel movement. These incidents occurred at St. Mary’s Hospital in Palm Beach Florida in 2009. The hospital has since been sued, but due to silence orders filed on both plaintiffs, the outcome of the case is not known.
How to protect yourself and your loved ones.
You can help protect yourself from medication errors by asking questions.

What medication is the doctor ordering?
Why is it being ordered?
How is it supposed to be administered?

Ask nurses and other providers what medication they are giving you and ask them to double check that they have the right medication. They can be as grumpy and insulted as they want to be - this is your life, your health, or the life and health of your loved one at stake.
Are you a medication mistake victim? You have rights.
If this sort of mix-up happens to you, whether you lose your pregnancy, you are only made a little sick, or the worst happens and you lose a loved one to a hospital medication error, you have rights. These kinds of mistakes are completely preventable, simply by being diligent and following standards of care. You have the right to sue hospitals and pharmacies who cause harm, in order to help protect others from these egregious errors.

Order our free book today to learn more about taking action against pharmacies for medication mistakes.

You can also download our free report:
Ten tips to protect your children from pharmacy error. This report includes what every parent should know about their children's medicines.

What can you do if a pharmacy breached their duty of care to you?

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

When you pick up your prescription, most people grab the bag they are given, pay their bill, and go on their way. We usually do not question the pharmacist and assume that our medicine is correct. But pharmacists are human and they make mistakes, too. Unfortunately, when a pharmacist makes a mistake it could cost someone their life. When a pharmacy error occurs, many times it is discovered that the pharmacist breached a duty of care.

The pharmacist has a duty of care to you, the patient.
Pharmacists have a duty to patients to follow a standard of care and do their job correctly. There are many steps that pharmacists take in order to prevent mistakes and ensure that patients receive the right medicine, including:

checking with the doctor if a written prescription is unclear;
double checking dosage amounts and dosage instructions;
checking that the labels match patient information.

Many times, pharmacists fail to follow the proper steps to ensure safety when filling prescriptions, or simply make mistakes while performing their job.

Mistakes can occur in too many ways to count.
Pharmacist malpractice can occur in many ways, including filling prescriptions incorrectly, improper bottle labeling, improper dosage instructions, or failing to check dangerous drug interactions. Often, pharmacists mistake similar-sounding drugs, or hand the wrong prescription to the wrong person.

Patients can file a pharmacy malpractice lawsuit in order to receive compensation for injuries caused by negligent pharmacist actions. Usually, a pharmacy lawsuit has to prove that

The pharmacist had a duty of care
The pharmacist breached that duty of care
The patient was harmed because of that breach of care.

Our firm has represented many clients who were injured because of pharmacy malpractice. Order our free book if you want to learn how to hold a pharmacy accountable for mistakes. You can also contact our pharmacy error attorneys at 888-526-7616 for a free, no obligation case review.

FDA cracking down on safety violations at prescription manufacturing plants

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Multiple safety violations revealed in U.S. prescription manufacturing plants

The Food and Drug Administration has been busy this past month cracking down on U.S. and Canadian drug manufacturers for violations of proper production standards and cleanliness. We blogged last week on FDA inspections at Mylan’s Puerto Rico prescription plant, and this week the FDA added another company to its growing list of prescription safety violators.

U.S. FDA finds safety violations at Novartis plants in US and Canada.

This summer, the FDA inspected Novartis generic drug manufacturing plants in Broomfield, Colorado, Wilson, North Carolina, and in Quebec. The FDA found violations ranging from improper sterility procedures to not ensuring quality and proper make-up of drugs to the required standard, and poor cleanliness at plants, even after cleaning was signed off on by management.

Those weren’t the only violations. According to the FDA, crystals were found to be allowed into injectable drugs, composition of drugs was improper (either too much or not enough of either the active medicinal ingredients or the wrong amount of binders in pills).

This is a sad and scary state for American and Canadian users of generic drugs made by Novartis. If you use a drug made by Novartis, look very carefully at the drug - if you see cloudiness or crystallization in your injectable, immediately return them to the pharmacy and call your doctor. For safety’s sake, it may be a good idea to call your doctor before using any Novartis drug, to see if there is another, alternative medication for you.

The FDA did not release the names of the generic drugs made at these three plants.
Check your prescription labels - by law the label must inform you who the maker of the drug is; if you become ill from taking one of these drugs, go to the nearest emergency room with all your prescription medicines and over the counter medicines. When you get out of the hospital, it is important to contact a medication error attorney immediately.
Order our free pharmacy error book to learn how to take action if you or someone you love was harmed by a medication error.

5 Lesser-Known Facts that Can Lead to Texas Prescription Errors

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Many people know that it is dangerous to drink alcohol with prescription medication, or to take more than the recommended dosage. But there are other factors that can cause serious illness or even death—things your busy pharmacist might never have told you.

For example, did you know that…

When patients write down a list of prescriptions they’re taking, they often forget over-the counter (OTC) medications such as antacids, pain relievers, herbal supplements and vitamins?
Patients who keep medications in the car are more at risk for side effects because temperature changes can affect a drug?
Vacationing patients often pack medications in their stored luggage, leading to theft? This means they will have to refill their prescription at an unfamiliar pharmacy when they land.
Patients, although they are not doctors, often hand out their own medications to others?
In order to save money, a large number of the population will take expired medication?

Whether these causes are intended to be helpful, economical, or just an honest mistake, they can still result in death or suffering for someone you love. For more information on medication mistakes, order our FREE book, “How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.”

If you need to discuss your case with a board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyer, call Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616 for a free consultation.

Medication Errors in Children: a Problem Bigger than Texas

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

When your child is the victim of a Texas medication mistake, you will likely wonder how medical professionals can make these kinds of mistakes. Unfortunately, infant medication errors are horrifyingly common—not just in Texas, but all over the world.

A study published in a 2002 issue of Pediatric and Perinatal Drug Therapy found that 28% of all drug mistakes are the result of a dosage error. Many of these victims were children too young to fight off the effects of an overdose—and mistakes were often not discovered until the patients complained of side effects.

The study uncovered some unsettling facts about medication errors in children:

Infants less than age one are at particular risk of dosage errors.
The second most common type of medication error was administration of the wrong drug, which caused five infant fatalities in seven years.
The American Children’s Emergency Department reported that one-third of ER medication errors involved patients given the wrong drug as a result of similar packaging or similar drug name.
Between 1993 and 2000, four children were killed by anesthesia overdose while undergoing dental surgeries.
Overdoses are more likely to be caught before administering to adult patients than in infants, since a tenfold mistake is for an infant is often a regular-sized adult dose

Get more prescription error information by ordering our FREE book, “How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.” For a free consultation with a board-certified Houston prescription drug error lawyer, call Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Cape Cod Mom Saves Baby from Prescription Overdose

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Cases of prescription error rarely have a happy ending. Moms in our state may be able to learn something from Michelle LaRowe Conover, whose quick thinking saved her daughter from a potentially fatal drug overdose.

Mrs. Conover dropped off a prescription for her 10-month-old daughter, Abigail, at a CVS Pharmacy on North Street in Hyannis, and Abigail’s father picked up the prescription later that day. The prescription, cephalexin, is a liquid antibiotic intended to treat diaper rash.

When Jeffrey Conover returned home, he told his wife that the pharmacy technician told him to give Abigail three syringes, the equivalent of three teaspoons, of the medicine three times a day. But something didn’t seem right to LaRowe Conover, who had training as a professional nanny.

“That didn’t sound right to me. It was too much medicine,” LaRowe Conover said.

She was right. She called the pharmacy to confirm her suspicions, and found out that the doctor had actually prescribed three CCs per dose, not tablespoons. If the pharmacy’s instructions had been followed, Abigail would have received about 15 times more than her recommended dose.

LaRowe Conover said the pharmacist at her local CVS has apologized twice for the pharmacy’s mistake, but it’s not enough. She has requested that CVS officials write and distribute a pamphlet about children’s medication, and that they release it to all CVS stores and possible pediatrician’s offices. Although she has made repeated attempts to contact CVS headquarters, she has not received a reply.

For a free consultation on your wrong dosage case, contact the board-certified Houston pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Walgreens Sued Over Medication Error in Michigan

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Walgreens may want its customers to believe they are a caring, responsible neighborhood pharmacy, but a Michigan man has a different opinion.

Michael Wells of Milford Village, MI did not expect to put his life at risk after his prostate surgery in October 2003. His surgeon took steps to prevent a post-surgery infection by prescribing an antibiotic; with a little time, Wells should have healed completely.

But instead, Wells suffered intense leg cramps as a result of the medication. After five days of suffering, he did some online research and discovered that he had been given the wrong medication: Walgreens filled his prescription with Diuril, a diuretic, instead of his antibiotic. He went back to Walgreens and the pharmacist admitted to the error.

Without the antibiotic treatment, Wells developed a painful infection in his surgical wound that spread across most of his lower body. He spent several months fighting the infection, enlisting the help of three doctors—one of whom confirmed that the infection was likely a result of the pharmacist's error. Wells filed suit for his injury against Walgreens in February 2006.

Despite Walgreens’ stance that pharmacy errors are rare, these mistakes can have devastating effects. If you need the advice of a Houston medication error attorney, order our free book, “How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors,” or call Kennedy Hodges at 888-526-7616.

Woman Visiting from Egypt Falls Victim to Texas Walgreens Prescription Error

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Nahla Said Naiel came to Texas for medical treatment for a heart condition. Naiel, a resident of Egypt, was staying with family in Houston this month while she saw her doctor about her high cholesterol.

The doctor decided to change her course of medications. He gave her a prescription for Crestor, which she filled at a Walgreens in Katy, TX. She had been taking the medication for four days when she began to feel sick.

"I feel my heart boom, boom, boom, boom, all the night. I can't sleep," she said.

She was visiting relatives in San Antonio when a cousin noticed that the name on the prescription label was someone else's. The family went on to discover that the drug in the bottle was not Crestor, but Bumetanide—a diuretic. However, the Walgreens receipt Naiel received was printed with her correct information.

"I know it's an unintentional mistake, but we need to be very careful. It's medicine," said Nabil El-Sharkawi, the cousin who noticed the error.

Naiel asked her family members to help her get in contact with the man whose medicine she mistakenly received. As it turns out, the man had also been given a wrong medication from the Walgreens in Katy a few weeks earlier.

The man explained that when he notified Walgreens, the pharmacist corrected the mistake and apologized. Naiel also got an apology and correct prescription, plus a full refund—but she remains concerned that this type of mistake will happen to someone else.

The Texas Pharmacy Board reported that it received 193 complaints in all of last year. This medication error epidemic is underreported across the country, so the statistics do not reflect all instances of prescription error. You can help prevent prescription mistakes from happening to other people by hitting the pharmacy companies where it hurts – in the pocketbook. Order our free pharmacy error book today, or call 888-526-7616 to have our prescription error attorneys review your case with no obligation and no charge.

IV Mistake Leads to Fatal Overdose in California

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Drug errors in Texas can be frightening—but are unfortunately common. It is estimated that 100,000 people will die every year as a result of a medication mistake, making medical mistakes more deadly than car accidents or breast cancer.

And hometown pharmacies aren’t the only risk—many people are injured or even killed while receiving hospital care.

For a patient in California, this was exactly what happened. The woman, a mother and grandmother, was undergoing a routine procedure when a hospital pharmacist mislabeled her IV injection.

The syringe, filled with saline and sterile talcum powder, killed the patient within seconds.

Her daughter, Ruzanna Poghosyn, witnessed the overdose along with her husband, Robert.

"She screamed out, 'Oh my God... Robert!' and that was it,” Poghosyn said. “those were the last words she ever spoke.”

The family’s attorney discovered the pharmacist’s mistake: According to FDA regulations, all talcum powder solutions of this type must be labeled 'Not for IV administration.' Instead, the pharmacist had typed the opposite: "For IV administration."

Poghosyn believes that her mother died as a result of gross negligence, stating that "the pharmacist should have known that talc solution cannot be administered in an IV.”

Hospitals Switching to Insulin Pens May Reduce Dosage Errors for Diabetics

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Many diabetics are trusted to do their own insulin injections at home. In order to cut down on injuries and potential overdoses, many of these patients are given programmable insulin pen devices as part of their home treatment.

But now it seems that these devices may be the key to reducing hospital dosage errors in Texas.

Insulin pens were introduced in the 1980s, and were a boon for diabetic self-treatment. They ensured accurate and simple administration of insulin so patients could inject themselves without relying on medically-trained professionals.

However, these professionals may benefit from the insulin pen’s ease of use. Insulin administration in hospitals and clinics is still largely done with bottle measures and syringes, and is the cause of many medication errors and adverse drug events.

Hospitals across the country have switched from the vial-and-syringe method in favor of insulin pen devices. In addition to a pre-measured dose, the pens perform accurate dose delivery and prevent needle stick injuries with the use of shielded safety needles. Many of the pens have the added feature of locking after injection to prevent reuse of needles.

Insulin pens were initially used in outpatient settings, where it was found they decreased diabetes-related drug errors. In addition, studies have shown that patients receiving insulin via pen injections in the hospital will often choose to continue that method of insulin delivery at home, since they are already familiar with how it is used.

Pharmacists Say a Little Planning Can Reduce Pharmacy Mistakes

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Human error will always be a factor in Texas pharmacy mistake cases. But rather than see that as an excuse, the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists recommends using it as a starting point for designing systems to make errors less likely.

The American Society of Hospital Pharmacists released the following recommendations for pharmacists, staff and regulators:

Organize. Since any person working in a pharmacy has the potential to make mistakes, the Society recommends that everything in the pharmacy from room layout to drug organization should be designed to minimize error.
Make a plan. Drug error policies should be firmly in place and should involve several different departments. One error could involve a pharmacy, the prescribing doctor, nurses, a risk management team, and hospital administration, so all parties must stay connected and aware.
Hiring and training. Pharmacies should take care in choosing employees, looking for more than just basic competence and customer service experience. Staff should also undergo rigorous training in preparing, dispensing, and patient education.
Staffing. Pharmacies must make sure that they have sufficient personnel on hand to fill orders adequately. Policies should enforce reasonable workload levels and working hours with penalties for exceeding them.
Be accountable. Facilities should have an ongoing program of quality improvement and peer review discussions about the intended use of medications.

If someone you love has suffered as a result of pharmacist malpractice in Houston, contact the board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Automated Pharmacies Make Fewer Medication Mistakes than Staff

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

A new automated system could cut down the number of injuries caused by Texas pharmacy errors.

Since most medication errors are a result of human misinterpretation of an order, it’s no surprise that using automated storage and retrieval systems cuts down on the number of pharmacy mistakes. These machines both store the medications in rotating carousels and use software programs to manage drug inventory.

The software, such as in machines from Talyst and AutoPharm3, verify the prescription and dosage using barcodes, resulting in a much more accurate system than relying on pharmacy technicians alone.

These pharmacy automation systems are programmed to:

Stock, track, and receive all supplies
Document all transactions and supply orders
Perform accurate medication dispensing
Keep automatic track of expiry dates
Perform regular wholesale ordering
Prioritize orders and recognize emergencies

Not only do these systems make fewer errors, they also use less space. The machines take up less room than conventional shelving and drawer systems found in most pharmacies. They have been shown to improve workflow by cutting down on walking and search time while filling patient orders, and could potentially take the place of extra staff members, resulting in smaller pharmacy workforces.

Man Suffers Coma after Hospital Pharmacy Medication Error

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

It is estimated that one in ten hospital patients will suffer some form of medication error while admitted—and that 1.5 million Americans fall ill or die as a result of medication mistakes every year. A recent California case almost proved fatal, shedding more light on how dosage errors in Texas can happen in both pharmacies and hospitals.

Richard Rivera, a resident of Lomita, CA, was originally hospitalized for suffering ongoing flu-like symptoms. His doctor ordered a course of antibiotics and a hospital stay.

Unfortunately, Rivera received a much higher dose of the powerful antibiotic than intended—and even worse, the error went unnoticed, so he was left on it for days.

Rivera’s kidneys began to shut down. The rest of his bodily systems were following suit, and Rivera fell into a coma, relying on a breathing machine to stay alive.

Prescription errors happen every 22 hours in the U.S., and this one would have been fatal if uncorrected. When Rivera recovered from critical condition, he attested that the prescription had been filled at the hospital’s pharmacy. Rivera is currently filing a suit against the hospital for the medication mistake.

Merck to pay $950 million in criminal and civil fines for Vioxx marketing

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Drugmaker Merck has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge over the marketing and sales of Vioxx, the Department of Justice said last week. The pharmaceutical company will pay $321 million in criminal fines in a lawsuit that claimed the company promoted the painkiller Vioxx to treat rheumatoid arthritis before getting Food and Drug Administration approval for it in 2002.

Merck to pay for illegal marketing.
Merck is also paying $426 million to the federal government and $202 million to state Medicaid agencies for claims that its illegal marketing caused doctors to prescribe and bill the government for Vioxx. Pharmaceutical companies cannot market a drug for any purpose before receiving FDA approval.

Vioxx was on the market for almost four years until studies showed an increased heart risk for patients. Vioxx was taken off the market in 2004, after almost 25 million Americans had taken the medication.

Big pharma cares about its bottom line, not your safety.
Pharmaceutical companies are in the business to make money. They care about their profits, not about your safety. Pharmacies also find ways to expand their bottom line by choosing to understaff their pharmacies, increasing the prescription error rates across the country.

If you or a loved one have been harmed by a medication error you have rights.
You can hold the pharmacy accountable for their mistake. Order our free book about pharmacy errors or call our office at 888-526-7616 to start a free case review today.

One in five American adults takes psychiatric drugs

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

New report shows 22% increase in adults taking psychiatric prescriptions to treat depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder.

According to a report issued Wednesday by Medco Health, Inc., one in five American adults now takes some form of psychiatric drug. The drugs include powerful ADHD medications, medications for depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia.

This is a 22% increase from 2001 to 2010. Anti-depressants, ADHD drugs and other psychiatric medications are the most widely prescribed drugs in the country, and there is some controversy surrounding this. There was a decline in the use of these drugs in children and the elderly, in part because of the FDA's black box warning, its most serious warning, that use of these drugs in teens, children, and the elderly can lead to higher rates of suicide because in those age groups it can actually worsen depression.

Are these drugs overprescribed?
It is hard to tell if the drugs are overprescribed, but many of these drugs do have other uses that are not listed on the labels. For example, some anti-anxiety medications help patients with vertigo, and many anti-depressants help chronic pain, such as that found in diabetic neuropathy or nerve pain due to back injuries. All patients taking these drugs need to be watchful for side effects and symptoms not mentioned at the doctor's office or at the pharmacy.

A recent Archives of Psychiatry paper found that in 2001 only 10 percent of the population took anti-depressants, but in 2010, 10 percent of adult men used these powerful drugs, and 21 percent of adult women used them. The disturbing trend of rising use of psychiatric drugs means that more dangerous medication errors can occur and cause dangerous and possibly life threatening problems.

The risks of preventable prescription errors.
People using these medications are exposed to sometimes dangerous side effects. The rising use of psychiatric drugs means that the risk of pharmacy error increases with every pill bottle you fill at the pharmacy. People are unaware of the scary statistics of pharmacy error injury and the truth is we are all at risk. You can order our free book to protect yourself and your loved ones against prescription errors.

FDA Study Proves Houston Medication Errors Can Be Fatal

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received almost 30,000 reports of medication mistakes since 1992. While the number is staggering, there is even worse news; the actual number is likely much higher.

These reports that are sent to the FDA by hospitals, medical centers, and pharmacies are all voluntary, and institutions may conceal the number of errors in order to avoid bad press.

The lack of true reporting may save a company's reputation, but it doesn't give them a chance to learn from their mistakes. Without intervention, the next prescription error in Houston could be life-threatening:

A man died of a massive hemorrhage after he mistakenly received a dose of the blood thinner warfarin that was intended for another patient.
A cancer patient was given a prescription for 260 milligrams of Taxol, but the pharmacy mistakenly gave him 260 milligrams of Taxotere instead. While both are chemotherapy drugs, Taxotere has a much higher concentration. The patient died of an overdose, but it was generally assumed he had died as a result of the cancer rather than a medication mistake.

This study proves that these tragedies happen every day-and most of them are entirely preventable. To learn more about these mistakes, order our free book, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors, or call Kennedy Hodges at 888-526-7616 to speak to an experienced Texas pharmacy error lawyer.

Prescription Phone Orders: A Common Cause of Dosage Errors

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

It may be faster for your doctor to "call in" a prescription to your pharmacy than sending an order by email. Unfortunately, transcribing these orders is a common source of prescription dosage errors in Houston. Since the order is not typed, the name, dose per pill and timing of medication may all be misheard-and then typed incorrectly on the patient label.

The American Society of Hospital Pharmacists recommends these guidelines for verbal prescription orders:

Use rarely. Verbal drug orders should only be used in situations where it is impossible for the physician to enter a written or typed order.
Spell names & numbers. It is important that the drug's name be spelled out to the person on the other end of the line. When ordering dosages, numbers should be spelled as well, taking extra care with easily-confused numbers such as "fifteen" and "fifty."
Read everything back. The pharmacist should read the order back to the physician slowly and clearly. When directions are repeated, never use abbreviations (such as "b.i.d."). Always read the full use description, such as "two times daily."
Write a back-up. A written copy of the spoken order should be typed and added to the patient's medical record for confirmation by the pharmacist.

Don't let a pharmacy take chances with your family's health! If someone you love has suffered a prescription drug mistake, contact the board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Study Shows Texas Medication Errors Often Lead to Hospitalization

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

A study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows that medication errors occur frequently in hospitals. When they cause serious injury, they are called Adverse Drug Events (ADE)-situations that require intervention, correction, and further hospitalization.

The results showed that while errors can occur at any point - ordering, transcription, dispensing, and administering - the majority of errors take place during ordering and administration of medications.

The most common types of errors that caused ADEs include:

Dosage errors (58% of cases)
Allergic reaction (13% of cases)
Wrong drug or patient (6% of cases)
Route error (3% of cases)
Missed dose (7% of cases)
Wrong technique (6% of cases)
Illegible order (6% of cases)
Duplicate therapy (5% of cases)
Drug interaction (3-5 percent of cases)
Equipment failure, poor monitoring, or preparation error (1 percent of cases)

While the types of errors differ, they are all a result of simple human error. Researchers concluded that anywhere from 28 to 95 percent of all ADEs could be prevented by using computerized monitoring systems to double-check prescriptions before they are given to patients.

Order our free book to learn how to protect your family against pharmacy errors.
If you want to learn how to take action against prescription errors you can order our free book, How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.

If someone you love has suffered as a result of a medication error, contact the board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616 for a free case review.

UK Pharmacy Makes Mistake, Takes 2 Days to Warn Patient

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Dosage errors in Texas are far too common, but it's not the only place they happen. Mislabeled prescriptions are causing patients to take an overdose of their medication across the world.

In a recent case in England, 43-year-old Janine Kennedy was prescribed a course of antibiotics and was told to take two pills four times a day, according to the pharmacy label.

She began taking the medication as instructed on Friday. On Monday afternoon, the head pharmacist called her and told her that the dosage instructions were incorrect: she should only be taking two pills twice a day.

As a result of the error, Kennedy had been taking twice the amount of the medicine for three days.

The pharmacist responsible for the error later called Kennedy to apologize for the mistake, assuring her it had never happened before. The pharmacist was crying as she explained that they had been short-staffed and the label machine was broken when Kennedy's prescription was filled.

While the overdose caused a scare, it posed no long-term damage to Kennedy's health.

The pharmacy has assured Kennedy that she was told of the error as soon as the mistake was discovered, and asked her to return the original packaging to aid in their internal investigation.

Do you know your prescription's dangerous side effects?

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Codeine and Morphine top the list for hospitalizations and deaths.

In 2008 alone, there were two million people hospitalized because of drug side effects and drug interactions. Of those people, 50,000 eventually died as a result of the side effects or interactions. The culprit of many of these effects was narcotic pain relievers like codeine and morphine.
Tricky Situation
All the listed side effects of a drug don't happen in every person. Some people feel no side effects. Some people have almost every nasty side effect on the label, and some people have only one or two side effects. There can be educated guesses made based on a patient's past medical history with their meds and side effects. But some side effects may not happen for weeks, months or even years after a patient starts taking a medicine.

If you or someone you care for has side effects, especially if those side effects lead to the emergency room or to hospitalization, your doctor needs to be made aware of the medicine's effects.

These effects can range from very mild to severe - including life-threatening allergic reactions. Many medications will interact with each other in such a way as to cause bad reactions.
Why full disclosure is important.
Make sure your doctor and your pharmacist know about all of the medicines you take, including herbal medicines, and all over-the-counter medicines, like pain relievers, allergy medicines and sleep aids. Ask questions about all of your medicines to the doctor and the pharmacist. Ask about possible interactions between your medications. This is valuable in keeping you and your loved ones safe.
You are a human, not a sheep. You have rights.
You are a human, not a sheep, and you don't have to blindly accept what you are told at either the doctor's office or the pharmacy. If you are uncomfortable with what you learn about your medications or proposed medications, discuss this with your doctor. You have the right to refuse any medical treatment you aren't comfortable with and to get a second opinion. Second opinions can be invaluable, and asking questions about side effects and interactions can save your life because the answers to your questions may very well need to be double checked.
Free resources to learn about dangerous pharmacy errors.
We offer free resources on our website for people who need answers about prescription errors. You can order our free book or contact our office for a free case review today at 888-526-7616.

Are you taking contaminated medicine?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Lax FDA plant inspections reveal risks of prescription contamination.
Counterfeit drugs can enter the American pharmaceutical supply in several ways. Many of these drugs are imported from overseas. As a matter of fact, most of the drugs sold in America are actually made in China and our inspectors have trouble getting in to inspect the plants. Lax inspection regulations can cause contamination which can harm or kill people.
Heparin cost-cutting measures - 81 deaths caused by contamination
A contaminated supply of Heparin got into the drug supply in 2008. Heparin is a powerful anti-clotting agent often used to stop the formation or growth of blood clots for people on kidney dialysis. As a result of the contamination, 81 people died before the FDA recalled it.
More than 280 people were also seriously injured as result of a Chinese manufacturer of Heparin using over-sulfated chondroitin, instead of actual heparin ingredients. The substitution was intentional. The Chinese plant that manufactured the heparin cut the medicine between 2 and 60 percent with chondroitin to save money. The plant had not been inspected for at least four years.
FDA cannot ensure regular plant inspections. Consumers are constantly at risk.
The FDA has neither the money nor the resources to inspect all drug manufacturing plants, and it depends on Big Pharma to inspect its own plants. Inspections are supposed to be carried out no less than every two years, but many plants go several years without inspections.
The FDA is more help to Big Pharma than to consumers. Not regularly inspecting drug manufacturing plants doesn't ensure safe drugs. It ensures that Big Pharma can continue to make big profits, because they don't need to worry much about being inspected by the FDA.
Take action against pharmacy errors by ordering our free book.
We all take a risk when we accept a doctor's prescription for medication. If you or a loved one is a victim of pharmacy error, call our pharmacy error lawyers at 888-526-7616 today for a free case evaluation. You can also order our free book learn how to take action against pharmacy errors.

Medication Errors Common in Chronically Ill Children

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

If there's anything worse than being a parent of a chronically ill child, it could only be watching that child suffer through a medication mistake. Unfortunately, these errors are not only commonplace, they are often the result of a parent's administration of the drug.

According to a study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting, parent medication errors when giving prescription drugs to children at home were overwhelmingly common.

Over the course of their research, the study's authors visited the homes of 83 children who were suffering from cancer, sickle cell disease, and epilepsy. Since these children require several different medications with varying doses on a daily basis, there is a far greater chance of pharmacy mistakes, label errors and wrong dosages than in the average household.

After researchers watched 166 drugs being administered, they found the following results:

128 medication errors occurred, including incorrectly labeled chemotherapy drugs and dosage mistakes.
Of those mistakes, 73 had the potential to cause injury and 10 actually did cause harm.
In one case, a chemotherapy label incorrectly called for six tablets a day when the child was supposed to have only seven a week.
The two most common factors for errors were homes that didn't keep all medications in one place and homes where children administered their own medications without parental supervision.

For more prescription error information, contact a board-certified prescription drug error lawyer at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Can you distinguish candy from prescription pills? Neither can your 7th grader.

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

The Cleveland Clinic recently conducted a project along with 7th graders from Cincinnati, Ohio about medication mistakes. The project's goal was to find out if kids and teachers could tell medicine from candy. The results of their study were rather alarming.
Out of 30 teachers and 30 kindergarteners, the kindergarten kids could distinguish medicine from candy only 71% of the time, while teachers were only correct in identifying medicine and candy 78% of the time.
The most common mistakes:

M&M's for Coricidin, an adult cold medicine safe for those with high blood pressure
SWEETarts for Mylanta, an antacid containing aluminum and magnesium
Reese's Pieces for Sine-Off, a sinus congestion medication for adults
SWEETarts for Tums, a calcium antacid.

How well are the medicines in your house stored?
Most of the kindergarten children in the study were unable to read, or were unable to read well enough to know that the bright colored boxes and tubes of medicine were not candy. This a wake-up call. The students also found that most people do not properly store medicine at home - it isn't locked up out of the reach of children.
How to avoid every parent's nightmare: 10 Tips you should know
As a parent, your main concern is keeping your children safe. Prescription errors can harm children significantly more than an adult because their bodies are not fully developed. Every parent should download our free report: 10 Tips to Protect Your Kids from Pharmacy Error.
Some of the tips include:
- The worst way to administer medicine to your child.
- How to make sure your doctor doesn't ignore your concerns.
- The one lesson every parent should teach their children.
- How a history lesson can prevent doctor and pharmacist mistakes.

Download our free report today or contact our office at 888-526-7616 if you or your child have suffered because of a medication error. You can also send us a confidential contact form.

Hunger strike by pharmacist highlights dangerous pharmacy quotas

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

One former pharmacist who was fired for "poor performance", Rahj Bhat, went on a hunger strike in July 2010 to protest the unfair and dangerous quotas pharmacies require. Medco is not going to pay much attention to this hunger strike in Tampa. Mr. Bhat is not employed by them and the publicity was so little, they could not have lost money to the crusade, however strong his moral conviction.
Pharmacy quotas lead to dangerous errors
When pharmacists are expected to work 10-14 hours a day or more, with no breaks, filling 300 or more prescriptions in a day, mistakes are going to happen. It is estimated that seven thousand people die every year because of medication errors. Patients may be victim to errors in several ways, including when they are:

given someone else's medicine,
given the wrong dose,
given the wrong medication entirely, or
given a medication that has an interaction with their other prescriptions.

Much of the reason for this is the required quotas pharmacists and their technicians are forced to maintain. Quotas are unfair, not only to the pharmacists and the technicians in any kind of pharmacy, but they are also extremely dangerous to the public.
How to bring real change to this unfair, dangerous system.
One way to combat these unfair quotas is to sue pharmacies when they make medication mistakes. Pharmacy chains care about profits. If they can force a pharmacist to fill 300 or more prescriptions in a day to keep his job, they keep profits high and costs low, because technicians, who make less money and have less experience and education, do most of the work.
Real change comes when you hit these corporations where it hurts - in the pocketbook.
You have a much greater chance of fighting back and making a statement. This also helps to make the corporations change their practices and prevent the same thing from happening to others. Get legal representation if you are the victim of a pharmacy mistake. Contact our pharmacy error lawyers today at 888-526-7616 for a free case review.

Family awarded $33 million for mother's death after prescription error.

Four Tips for staying safe at the pharmacy

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

We all know that every pharmacy has made mistakes. It's not uncommon for a pharmacy to fill 400 prescriptions in one day, or as many as 1,000. This gives a pharmacist two minutes or less to spend on a script. Sometimes, drugs that sound alike are placed on shelves directly next to each other. Another cause of error is that names are confused, or dosages are misinterpreted. There are things you can do to protect yourself and your family from medication misfills and mistakes.
1. Look at What You've Got
Always make sure your medicine looks right. Are these the same yellow pills you've been taking for the last year, or do they look different? Notice the shape, the color, and the markings on the pills.
2. Check for Recalls/Interactions
It can take 180 days for a recalled medication to show up in a pharmacy's data banks. Some pharmacies don't update their databases as quickly as they could, or should. Look in places that are reputable for information about your medicine.
You can look up side effects or drug interactions to include herbs and over-the-counter medicines. Look up the side effects yourself - this can save you from being the victim of an egregious pharmacy error.
3. If You Discover a Mistake
If you look up your medications and they don't look right, or they are not marked right, or if you discover an interaction the pharmacy missed, print out your findings, if you can, and take it with you to the pharmacy. Return the medicine and exchange it for what you were supposed to get, or wait while the doctor's office is called and your prescription is filled.
4. If you have already taken this incorrect medication, proceed to the nearest emergency room, with ALL of your medications.
Document your troubles as much as you can. Get copies of your emergency department records, and the records of any hospital stay you may have as result of the error. Remember that medication mistakes can kill so don't put it off because you think it's not a big deal. As soon as you get home from the hospital, call a competent attorney to protect your rights. Don't talk to the pharmacy. Don't talk to their insurance adjusters, and don't sign anything before you talk to a lawyer.
Pharmacy error victims: You Have Rights. Learn them by ordering our free book.
If you or your loved one has been the victim of pharmacy malpractice, you have rights. You have the right to have your damages covered and the right to be compensated for lost wages and other losses that are due to pharmacy error. You also have resources. Order our free book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors," to get educated on your rights when a pharmacy error occurs. You can also call our office for a free case review: 888-526-7616.

The top causes of prescription errors at the pharmacy that can hurt your family.

Pharmacy robots are filling your prescriptions - do you know the prescription error rate?

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

E-prescriptions
The U.S. government has pumped more than $27 million into the healthcare system to help doctor's offices go paperless. The government is pushing for doctors and pharmacies to use electronic medical records, or EMR's. In fact, E-prescriptions, meant to make prescribing easier for doctors and safer for patients, are part of the push toward EMR's.
E-prescribing is supposed to be better because the doctor can check:

if your insurance will pay for your prescription,
for contraindications and possible reactions to a new drug.

E-prescribing can't eliminate errors
E-prescriptions have not reduced the number of pharmacy errors in any way. There are still transcription errors at the pharmacy, misunderstandings of dosages and use instructions. Many doctors don't even bother to check if your new prescription is safe for you, or if your insurance will cover them. They leave that to the pharmacist.
Pill Pick - How Robots are filling prescriptions
The University of California San Francisco has a teaching hospital and it also has PillPick, the pharmacy robot. This robot counts, sorts, and bags pills according to dose, drug, and the amount of pills prescribed by the doctor. The pharmacists who used to work in the hospital pharmacy now help make sure that patients are getting the right drugs, right doses, and getting them at the right time.
Pill Pick makes few errors compared to human pharmacists and the robot costs less than the yearly salaries of all those pharmacists combined to install and implement. In fact, PillPick made one error out of 350,000 prescriptions filled at the hospital pharmacy, and that was a printer error which was quickly fixed by the human operators. Some in the pharmacy field believe this robot will one day replace human pharmacists and that we will get our prescriptions filled at kiosks containing robots like PillPick.
Science Fiction, or Reality?
PillPick seems to be working well for this hospital at UCSF, and it frees pharmacists there to do what they do best - help people get the right drugs for them. As far as retail pharmacies using PillPick instead of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, it's hard to say if this is the wave of the future, or if it will fizzle out. People do like the human touch, even though there are many errors. Humans make mistakes, especially if they are rushed, tired and hungry - like many pharmacists are.
Skeptics
Many believe these robots will not replace human pharmacists and pharmacy techs. E-prescriptions have done little, if any, good in reducing pharmacy errors. Robots may change the landscape and reduce the errors, but many are skeptical of the bots replacing pharmacists.
If you or a loved one were victims of a pharmacy mistake, order our free book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors," to learn more about what you can do to fight back. You can also speak to our pharmacy error lawyers 24/7 at 888-526-7616 to start your free case review.

Seven Things Your Pharmacist Wishes You Knew

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Ever wondered what your pharmacists is thinking? Any profession dealing with people has its ups and downs and pharmacists are no exception. This much-maligned profession is important in a person’s healthcare. It's important to keep certain things in mind when filling your prescription.

Here, pharmacists share a few things they wish you knew.
1. I Went to School for Pharmacy; this Isn’t a Cheeseburger
Pharmacists have to fill up to 43 prescriptions in one hour. Medicine is important. Be patient, because we don’t have just one task to perform or one bottle of pills to fill in the next 15 minutes. Typically, it takes six years or more to become a Pharmacist.
2. I Work 12-16 Hour Days
Pharmacists sometimes work 12-16 hour days, often with no break and no meal in between. Tired, overworked people make more mistakes.
3. I am Always Rushed
Filling 43 prescriptions in an hour while making/answering pharmacy-related calls, cross checking insurance payments, cross-checking interactions and allergies, and directing a customer to the depilatory cream makes it hard to keep everything straight. Be Patient, please.
4. Be Alert
I really wish you’d help me to help you by being alert. Ask questions, read labels, take notes at the doctor’s office. You may catch a mistake that can be corrected before it can cause harm.
5. Be Patient
Don’t be angry because there is a wait time for your prescriptions. I am still human. Even I can’t read and process everything instantly. When you pick up your medicine, always take pharmacist counseling seriously, even if you are a health professional. The information I can give you could save your life.
6. I’m Not a Glorified Clerk
I really am a professional Plenty of folks don’t know that many pharmacists went to school for Pharmacy just as long as a medical doctor does for his license to practice. I am a highly-trained professional. While I am filling prescriptions and making sure they are right for my patients in every way, I don’t really have time to explain where the Cheezie-Poofs are in the front of the store.
7. I Don’t Choose My Working Conditions
I spend all day on my feet, sometimes without a break to go to the restroom or to eat. I work 12-16 hours in a rushed environment, supervising three or four other people. If I’m not cranking out prescriptions as quickly as a drive through with a burger and fries, I get in trouble, because my bosses aren’t pharmacists.

Pharmacists want to help you feel and be your best. The conditions many of them work under are in violation of many labor rules. A pharmacist’s worst nightmare is that something he gave a patient across his counter made them sick or caused harm. We have to keep speaking out against these corporations for the good of everyone - pharmacy patients, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacists alike.

If a pharmacist mistake has harmed you or a loved one order our free book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors." This book will teach you how you can fight back against pharmacy errors. Call our pharmacy error lawyers for a free case review at 888-523-7616.

Unintentional Drug Overdose is Leading Cause of Death

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

A University of Maryland report revealed that unintentional drug overdoses now account for 24 percent of all unintentional deaths, which makes it the second leading cause of all unintentional deaths. Although many of these deaths may have been caused by intentional misuse of narcotic pain relievers, many more are the result of drug errors caused by:

There are many factors that can cause fatal medication errors. The trouble is, we may never know all the factors because there is no database that tracks medication errors, drug abuse, or drug reactions currently. For the FDA to act on complaints about a drug, at least 1,500 complaints must first be received.

The Reporting Process at the FDA is Long, Draconian, and Frustrating
Reports, which are four or five pages long, must either be mailed in, or they can be done online. The questionnaire doesn't request much information, other than the reaction experienced, how many times the patient took the drug, what the reaction was, and who makes the drug. Most patients don't know how to find the information requested by the FDA, and it doesn't leave much room to explain anything else, like drug allergies.

What Can Be Done about Drug Overdose Errors?
Many people are advocating the creation of a database that would track all these problems and changes to help make patients safer. Opponents, however, say the database would invade the privacy of patients. Either way, if a database is created, then its inception is still many years away. Until then, you, the patient, are your own best advocate and safeguard against drug mistakes.

If you or a loved one were victims of a pharmacy mistake, order our free book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors," to learn more about what you can do to fight back. You can also speak to our pharmacy error lawyers 24/7 at 888-526-7616 to start your free case review.

After Prescription Mix-Up, Walgreens Promises to Pay Medical Bills

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

A patient is suing a Walgreens pharmacy for millions of dollars after the wrong medicine they prescribed "nearly killed" him.

Ron Apenbrinck, of St. Louis, was supposed to receive Hydrocodone to treat his hernia. Instead, he mistakenly received medication for another patient: a heart-related prescription. The error occurred because Apenbrinck's name was on the pharmacy bag-but the other patient's name was on the prescription label.

Apenbrinck, not noticing the name on the bottle, took the medication as he had been instructed for several days. Apenbrinck recalls that the pill made him dizzy, ultimately resulting in a fall from a ledge.

"I was in a lot of pain, my wife was crying screaming for help," he said.

After the accident, he spent nearly a week in the hospital suffering from a self-described mini-stroke. Medical documents attest that Apenbrinck has developed a variety of conditions since the drug mistake, including an irregular heartbeat and permanent injuries to his head, neck, back, and nervous system.

As a result of his injuries, he is now taking 11 medications every day.

Walgreens acknowledged the error in a statement, remarking that they have "a multi-step prescription filling process with numerous safety checks in each step to reduce the chance of human error." The company also assured the media that they "investigate what happens in each case and work to prevent it from happening again."

As to compensation for this case, Apenbrinck's lawyer has said that a Walgreens employee at the South Kingshighway Boulevard location has apologized for the error, and the company has agreed to take care of medical bills.

If you or someone you know have been affected due to presciption errors, contact an experienced pharmacy error attorney today.

Walgreen's to Pay $25M for Fatal Prescription Mistake

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

A case of prescription error has resulted in a considerable pharmacist malpractice settlement for a grieving Florida family.

Beth Hippely, of Lakeland, Florida, was prescribed one milligram of blood thinner medication in 2003. Unfortunately, the teenage employee at her pharmacy typed "10 milligrams" on Hippely's prescription label.

The dosage, ten times higher than the intended amount, caused Hippely to suffer a massive stroke. The resulting hospitalization also forced her to stop treatment she was undergoing for early stage breast cancer.

After Hippely died in 2007, the family took the case to trial.

A Florida appeals court recently upheld the original decision, ordering Walgreens to pay Hippely's family $25.8 million in damages.

The case was not only one of the largest payouts for prescription error to date, it also brought to light the lack of training required to work in major drug store chains. In many states, pharmacy employees are not required to have a high school diploma.

There is currently no national educational standard for pharmacy technician training. The technician responsible for the error that cost Beth Hippely her life had previously made popcorn at a nearby theater.

Although the case ended in a substantial settlement for this family, they are no doubt outraged at the simple mistake that took their mother's life. Our sincere condolences go out to the Hippelys, and all other families just like them, whose lives were forever changed by a simple decimal point.

If someone you love has suffered as a result of pharmacist malpractice, contact the board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Two Rite Aid Medication Mistakes Cause Illness in 88-Year-Old Patient

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

A patient who narrowly escaped a prescription drug error eight months ago has fallen victim to a medication mistake from the same pharmacy.

In the first case, 88-year-old Irene Lafond noticed that the pills she received from a Rite Aid in Worcester, MA didn't look familiar. When Lafond called her doctor and read her the label, she was surprised at her reaction.

"She said ‘I didn't prescribe those. Don't you dare take them. Those are dangerous,'" Lafond reported.

Her son returned the pills to the Rite Aid on Greenwood Street, who apologized for the mistake. But this week, she received another mistaken prescription from the same location.

Lafond had two prescriptions on file at Rite Aid: prednisone for arthritis, and hydrochlorothiazide for high blood pressure. Unfortunately, the staff gave her a bottle labeled with the name of her arthritis pills, but it actually contained her blood pressure medication-and as a result, she took twice her prescribed dose of blood pressure medication for two weeks.

The increased dosage made her ill, resulting in nausea, weakness and pain. She lost her appetite due to the stomach symptoms, and was worried her heart problems would get worse.

When the mistake was finally discovered, Lafond's son again complained to the Rite Aid pharmacy. The pharmacy manager offered him a him a $25 gift card, which he declined.

Lafond believes that the mistake definitely could have cost a less cautious senior citizen their life:

"What if they do it to some other elderly person, some have a touch of dementia or Alzheimer's and they don't look at stuff like that," she said. "I do!"

Lafond will definitely be changing pharmacies after this incident, stating "I don't trust them no more. Two mistakes, no."

Cancer Patient Receives Wrong Dosage, Dies During Nurses' Strike

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Members of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United allege that hiring replacement nurses for hospital shifts resulted in the death of a patient.

The patient was receiving long-term cancer care at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, California when she was the victim of a fatal medication error. According to police, the accident occurred during a strike event, and the woman's "non-prescribed dosage" was administered by a stand-in nurse.

The accident occurred just three days after a statewide strike began, causing thousands of California nurses to leave their posts. When nurses arrived Saturday morning, they found that the management at Summit Medical Center had locked the doors and hired replacement staff.

The patient's name was not released, but has been reported to be a 66-year-old Oakland woman.

Many union members argue that the accident would not have happened if they had not been locked out of the hospital.

On-Site Pharmacists Reduce ER Medication Mistakes, Study Finds

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Anyone who has been given the wrong medication in a hospital is aware of the dangers such errors can cause. But, it turns out the simplest way to cut down on these mistakes is to have a pharmacist on hand-even in the emergency room.

According to a study done by the University of New Mexico, trauma centers that did not have a pharmacist on staff were 13 times likelier to make a prescription medication error than those that did.

The results were recorded over three months in 2009. Without a pharmacist present to review a patient's drug therapy, 137 medication errors occurred, as opposed to only 6 when a pharmacist was on hand.

The most common errors were dosage mistakes, medications given without orders, or administered incorrectly. These errors occurred most often with antibiotics, but were also common with pain medications, cardiac prescriptions and gastrointestinal drugs.

In cases of error, the pharmacists were able to make dosage corrections before patient injury occurred. Possible interactions and drug alternatives, when suggested by the pharmacist, were implemented by ER doctors 91% of the time.

The study suggests that pharmacists can greatly improve patient safety-and while not all hospitals can afford to hire a pharmacist for every department, trauma center pharmacists deserve special consideration. There are typically more errors in emergency situations, and more medications are prescribed there than in clinics.

Rite Aid Labeling Error Forces Statewide Pharmacy Investigation

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

A case of prescription mislabeling results in a full-scale investigation of pharmacy mistakes-and the results may hold true for pharmacy errors in Houston.

According to the prescription label, North Carolina resident Melissa Fink was to give her daughter 7 ½ teaspoons of Amoxicillin twice a day. Fink's daughter Shelby was suffering from an ear infection, something the pink antibiotic should have cleared up in a matter of days.

Instead, Shelby began vomiting and having diarrhea.

When her mother reported this to the pharmacy, they discovered that one of the Rite Aid pharmacists had misread the medical record. Shelby was supposed to receive 7 ½ milliliters twice daily, and the mis-typed label resulted in a much higher dosage.

The mistake prompted a four-year investigation into pharmacy errors across the state. The data revealed some surprising results:

226 patients were given the wrong medication
80 patients were given the incorrect dosage
77 patient were given incorrect directions
24 prescriptions were given to the wrong patient
12 patients were given an incorrect prescription count

Although an overwhelming amount of victims receive the wrong medication, any one of these mistakes can result in serious injury or death. If you have suffered from a prescription error, contact the board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616.

Do you take five or more medications? How a brown paper bag has helped patients with chronic conditions.

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Taking multiple medications increases your risk of being injured by a pharmacy error. Patients who take five or more medications are at the highest risk. Often when we visit the doctor we don't discuss all of the medicines, dietary supplements, vitamins and other medicines we take on a daily basis and this is dangerous. One way to prevent pharmacy errors is by bringing a brown paper bag with you to the doctor's office.

How a brown paper bag reduces pharmacy risks

For the last 10 years, Premera Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Washington has mailed its members a brown paper bag. This bag is meant to hold all of their medications, including over the counter medicines, herbal and other dietary supplements. Patients are instructed to take all these medicines to their primary care doctor to discuss them and it has been helpful for many patients because many supplements and herbs are not often discussed with the doctor.

According to a recent study done by the company, when at-risk patients 19 and over who were targeted for the brown bag practice because they used more than one medicine for a chronic condition, 29 percent had a medication change, 73 percent had their dosage changed and 63 percent stopped taking one or more medications.

Simple practice can save lives
Discussing with your doctor every single item that you take, whether on a regular basis or not, is a good way to keep yourself safe from medication mistakes. Everyone who uses a medicine, especially those who use one or more medications for a chronic illness, can benefit from this simple practice.

If you were given the wrong medicine, wrong dose, or discover you were given the wrong instructions for a medicine, order our free book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors," to learn how you can fight back. You can also speak to our pharmacy error lawyers 24/7 at 888-526-7616 to start your free case review.

Prescription Drug Errors Can Cause Miscarriage in Pregnant Women

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Many children's prescription errors will not cause permanent damage. But some cases result in the unthinkable - the loss of an infant.

Florida hosital under fire for claims Prostin mix-up caused two women to miscarry
A Florida hospital recently came under fire for causing miscarriage and premature birth for two pregnant women in the same day. The hospital, operated by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, made a common prescription mistake, switching out two similarly named medications with disastrous results.

In both cases, the nurses administered Prostin, a drug which is used to induce labor and is often given to patients whose children have died in the womb. The women, both on bed rest in St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, were supposed to receive suppositories of progesterone in order to prevent premature delivery.

The drug error caused the first mother to lose her unborn twins.

Just a few hours later, the hospital made the same mistake again, causing another mother to give birth to her daughter four months early. The premature baby suffered severe brain damage and remains under constant hospital care.

The National Academies' Institute of Medicine estimates that 400,000 drug-related injuries occur every year, with look-alike and sound-alike drugs a particular source of concern.

The cases above are tragic - and worst of all, entirely preventable - and the families of the victims have our sincere condolences.

If your child has suffered from a medication error, contact a board certified prescription drug error lawyer at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616. We have helped clients nationwide recover compensation for prescription error injuries.

Premature Baby Injured by Wrong Dosage of Morphine

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

A misplaced decimal point nearly resulted in an infant's death, a perfect example of how Houston wrong dosage errors occur.

A two-month-old child was about to undergo a routine procedure to help him digest food properly. Just before surgery, the doctor ordered 0.4 mg of morphine to be injected as a pain medication. The nurse drew up 0.4 mg as instructed, checking the amount with a second nurse who confirmed the dose.

However, instead of using the usual vial of morphine which has a concentration of 5 mg per milliliter, the nurse used a vial that contained 10 mg per milliliter - twice the strength of the intended dose. As a result, the baby received a dose 10 times higher than the doctor ordered.

The baby stops breathing moments after the injection. The nurse is called and they are able to resuscitate the infant, saying that children sometimes have strange reactions to medication and that they do not need to put the baby on a cardiac monitor.

Ten minutes later, the child goes into respiratory arrest. The child is transferred to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit where the mistake is discovered. Although the child recovered from the incident, the parents immediately filed a medical malpractice case against the hospital for negligence.

To get a free case review on your wrong medication case, contact the board-certified Texas pharmacy error lawyers at Kennedy Hodges today at 888-526-7616. We help clients nationwide to recover compensation for pharmacy errors.

New Study Shows Medication Errors Common in Pharmacy Drive-Up Windows

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Odds are you've probably pulled away from a drive-thru window without ever once making eye contact with the person who served you.

But if you are the victim of a prescription error, that person may have been your pharmacist.

Get compensated for your pharmaceutical injury-order our FREE book: How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.

In a recent study, Ohio State researchers found that pharmacists are more likely to experience dispensing errors at drive-through locations.

Pharmacists were asked to rate potential dangers to their patients on a scale of 1 to 5. According to the survey, the following drive-thru details averaged a 3.7 score:

is the biggest cause for pharmacy staff to take extra steps
reduces overall efficiency
causes delays in medication processing

The drive-thru also affected dispensing errors and communication problems with an average 3.3 score.

The study reveals that pharmacists themselves believe that drive-thru service causes unnecessary distractions, since the drive-thru window is often located in an area convenient for cars, and not necessarily convenient for pharmacy staff. This added need for multi-tasking often leads to cognitive errors, such as miscounted pills and switched prescriptions.

Patients should always check their prescription medications at the pharmacy-especially if they were picked up from the drive-thru window.

For more advice from a Texas pharmacy error lawyer, call Kennedy Hodges at 888-526-7616 today for a free consultation.

EMS Worker Demoted after Giving Patient Wrong Medication

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

A Tennessee paramedic received a month's suspension after he gave a patient the wrong medication in an ambulance.

EMS worker Timothy Waldo was part of a response team that arrived at the scene of Melvin Davis' home earlier this month. Although Davis had been hanging upside-down from a rope for several days, emergency crews reported that he was conscious but extremely weak when he was loaded into the ambulance.

However, when Davis arrived at Erlanger, he had clearly taken a turn for the worse. One of the doctors attending him on arrival contacted EMS to inquire what happened during Davis' ambulance ride.

Upon investigation, Chief Ken Wilkerson found that while Timothy Waldo was attending to Davis, he administered an IV bag of lidocaine rather than the pure saline he had meant to use. As a result, Davis "was in more of a critical state when he arrived at the hospital," Wilkerson said.

Davis remained in critical condition for nearly a week, but is currently listed in fair condition.

EMS Chief Wilkerson assures the public that Waldo did not have any malicious intent toward Davis, and just made an honest mistake.

Waldo was suspended for a month without pay and will be on probation for the near future, receiving regular work evaluations every 30 days. He has been demoted from paramedic to EMT and will have to undergo re-training at his own expense in order to regain his title.

Jamie Jackson, the EMT who was driving the ambulance, was cleared of misconduct and has returned to work.

Why Are Pharmacy Errors So Common?

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

There is no excuse for even one of the estimated 7,000 deaths that occur each year due to pharmacy mistakes. The fact is that these errors are all totally preventable. 1.3 million people are injured each year as result of these pharmacy errors.
Why Are Pharmacy Errors So Common?
Any time there is a human involved, there is a chance for errors to be made. With the number of pharmacists actually shrinking, the number of prescriptions growing, and the population aging, errors are increasingly common.
The many reasons for pharmacy mistakes include:

Overworked pharmacists and technicians. Pharmacists and their helpers work between 12 and 16 hours every day, without any rest breaks or meal breaks.
These hardworking people also have 2-3 minutes to fill between 300 and 400 scripts every day.
The corporations they work for have bean-counters who crunch numbers and decide how many scripts have to be filled to make maximum profits. They don't have the patients' or their employees' best interest at heart.
Distractions. On top of all this, customers are complaining about the wait, asking directions to grocery items or the bathroom, and the phone is ringing off the hook.

None of these things absolves them of their duty to safely and correctly dispense to you the medicine you need.

Help Make Retail Pharmacies Safer by Speaking Up.
You may think you have no recourse if you were not injured in the long term by a pharmacy mistake. If you were given the wrong medicine, wrong dose, or discover you were given the wrong instructions for its use save the bottle, the medicine, the bag and the receipt. Speak to our pharmacy lawyers 24/7 at 888-526-7616 for a free case review. We represent people across the country in pharmacy error lawsuits. The statute of limitations begins to run very quickly in these cases, so talk to a competent and experienced pharmacy mistake lawyer as soon as you possibly can.

5 medical abbreviations commonly confused at pharmacies

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Does your pharmacist or doctor take shortcuts? Five medical abbreviations that can harm you.

The abbreviations used in medical care and pharmacy are the same abbreviations worldwide. The abbreviations are standardized, and have been for about 150 years. Most of them come from Latin words. Many medical abbreviations are often misinterpreted at the pharmacy.

Here are 5 medical abbreviations commonly confused at pharmacies:

BT = Bedtime: Mistaken as "BID" (twice daily)
IN = Intranasal: Mistaken as "IM" or "IV"
HS = Half-strength: Mistaken as bedtime
IU = International unit: Mistaken as "IV" (intravenous) or 10 (ten)
QHS = Nightly at bedtime: Mistaken as "GHR" or every hour

Should Error-Prone Abbreviations be Stopped?
There has been a movement recently among some organizations like the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and the Food & Drug Administration to eliminate medical abbreviations which are often misinterpreted at the pharmacy. The ISMP has compiled a list which is two pages long, detailing abbreviations of common error-prone abbreviations.

Medication errors are totally preventable.
Forcing medical terminology and abbreviations to be changed will not solve any of the core issues that cause medication errors. They are often misinterpretations of doctor's orders, or typos made when entering data into either the office, hospital or pharmacy computer systems. Registered pharmacists have a duty of care when filling prescriptions that include:

checking closely before sending the information,
calling the doctor's office to ask for clarification,
looking at the drug,
checking the patient's age, conditions and other medications, and cross-checking their drugs.

The simple fact is that more training and standardization of pharmacy technician training, medical assistant training, and more careful attention to typing and all forms of prescriptions- phoned/faxed in, handwritten or e-prescriptions- would greatly reduce the amount of medication mistakes made.

If you have a pharmacy claim and want to know how to take action, you can order our free book to learn more about pharmacy claims. You can then contact our board certified attorneys to review your case free of charge. Contact our office 24/7 by sending a confidential contact form or by calling 888-526-7616.

E-prescriptions Cause Medication Errors as Often as Handwritten Prescriptions

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Congress Orders Study Done on E-Prescriptions
Prescription errors can happen anywhere. In fact, e-prescriptions are no less prone to errors than handwritten prescriptions. This is based on a report published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, which concluded that the error rates of e-prescriptions were no less than the amount of errors made using handwritten prescriptions.
This study disturbed Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) so much that she wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, calling for a study to be done on the high medication error rate in nursing homes, hospitals and other places where Health Information Technology (IT) is used. Going paperless was supposed to give doctors and patients better access to better health care, but the error rate in the administration, use and prescribing of medications has not changed.
Where prescription errors take place:
A prescription drug error can occur and any point between the doctor and the pharmacist. These mistakes can occur, for example, in the following points of communication:

Errors in transcription at the nursing home, hospital or doctor's office by the nurse or medical assistant,
Errors in transcription or interpretation at the pharmacy because the pharmacy tech doesn't understand medical abbreviations and jargon
Techs mistype the instructions into the pharmacy's system
Pharmacists puts the wrong label on a bottle

Unfortunately, sometimes these prescription errors are sometimes fatal.
Congressional study reveals 20% of drugs administered involve some mistake
Patients in hospitals and nursing homes are given the wrong medication one of every five times they receive a dose of medicine. That's a 20% error rate! Add to this the fact that one patient can receive up to 18 doses of medication in a single day, and you have a recipe for disaster. It's not only pharmacies that make these mistakes. Errors can happen when

the doctor types in the script,
when the medical assistant or nurse transcribes the script,
when it is transcribed into the pharmacy's IT system, or
when it is physically filled in the pharmacy of the hospital, institution or a chain pharmacy.

If you've been injured or suffered the loss of a loved one due to a medication error, a pharmacy lawyer has resources to help you track down the source of the error that injured you.
You do have rights, and one of those is the right to sue pharmacies, hospitals and other institutions for injury and illness caused by medication mistakes. It's a shame that communication breaks down so quickly that we all have to worry about how safe our prescriptions are, and how safe our loved ones' prescriptions are. Communication breakdown along the chain of custody or delivery for a prescription is the single biggest cause of medication error. You don't have to suffer without being compensated for the damages caused by this type of malpractice. Call our experienced medication error attorneys toll-free at 888-526-7616 to find out how much your claim may be worth. You can also order our free book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors," to learn more abou taking action against pharmacies.
Know your rights, and exercise those rights. Only by speaking out can we change the system that is enabling these kinds of preventable errors.

Proposed Pharmacy merger could expose consumers to more dangerous pharmacy practices

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Over half the states are contesting a merger between two of the three biggest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM): Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions. States are contesting this merger under federal anti-trust laws, on the grounds it would create a monopoly.
What Would a Merger Between the Two Biggest PBM's Mean?
Just like the bean-counters who tell us what services our insurance companies will and will not pay for when we see a doctor, PBM's tell us which drugs we can have and which ones they won't pay for when we go to the pharmacy. Pharmacists are often at odds with PBM's, who audit pharmacies whenever they think they can, ostensibly to save us and our insurance companies money. Statistics along with pharmacist complaints tell us the only people saving or making money are the PBM's, in the form of monetary benefits given to them by drug makers and insurance companies.
How this affects you: Cheaper drugs, generic drugs, and big-box pharmacies.
Here's why it matters to us, the patients. Pharmacy benefit managers are calling doctor's offices every single day, trying to get them to steer patients toward cheaper drugs, generics, and big-box pharmacies. CVS/Caremark was even fined over $25 million for this tactic, because they were requiring patients to use CVS pharmacies, and their own mail-order pharmacies, rather than the pharmacies the patients wanted and had been using for years.
Most patients will pay the same amount for their drugs. The PBM's charge the insurance company a similar amount for the drugs, but because the large drug distributors like CVS/Caremark own these pharmacies, they get monetary rewards from drug makers for selling the drugs they bought at a much lower cost for the same ─ or even a higher price.
Work overload is one of the reasons cited for the high number of prescription mistakes by pharmacists working in retail pharmacies. Specialty pharmacists and doctors are complaining now that ExpressScripts is steering patients and pressuring doctors to switch patients to their specialty pharmacy, CuraScript. Patiens must use this pharmacy for drugs for Hemophilia, Hepatitis C, and drugs that treat autoimmune illnesses, such as Humira, Enbrel, Remicade, and some cancer drugs.
Impact on Pharmacy Errors
It is anyone's guess as to the impact of this proposed merger on the safety of big-box retail pharmacies like Walgreens, Kmart, Walmart, and others. What is known is that the pressure put on the pharmacists and pharmacy techs to fill prescriptions in just two to three minutes is not only unreasonable, but is unsafe for the patients. If these two pharmacy benefit managers merge, it will create even more pressure.
Is Telepharmacy next?
Is the next step going to be where the pharmacist Tweets or Skypes with techs to check the accuracy of their medication fills? Will the pharmacists be allotted only one minute per prescription, so that they are forced to fill 600 scripts in a day, rather than 300? It's hard to say, but we think that if the FTC allows the merger to take place, it really won't bode well for consumers.

If you want to know how to take action against prescription errors, you can order our FREE book to learn more about pharmacy claims. You can then contact our board certified attorneys to review your case free of charge. Contact our office 24/7 by sending a confidential contact form or by calling 888-526-7616.

Friend of Firm Victim of Pharmacy Malpractice. She waited too long. Learn from her mistake.

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

My friend was the victim of a pharmacy error. We'll call her Stacy to protect her identity. In 2007, Stacy was on a serious medication regimen: Cyclosporine, Tramadol, Wellbutrin, and a few other drugs to control her Rheumatoid Arthritis and a rare eye disease.
The combination served to raise her blood pressure and cause her to stutter when she had never before been a stutterer. Three weeks after the stuttering began she began to have violent seizures. It is now 2011, and she will take the seizure medicines for the rest of her life.
Stacy's deadline to file a pharmacy error lawsuit has passed.
Did she sue the pharmacy for not crosschecking the drugs? No.
Did she sue her doctors for not paying close attention to the medications she was taking? No.
She did not sue, and it is too late for her to make a claim.
The statute of limitations ran out a year after she began to have the seizures.
What should Stacy have done?
- She should have had someone drive her directly to the Emergency room, with all of her medicines
when the stuttering became obvious.
- She should then have made sure her medications were changed.
- She should have contacted a competent prescription error attorney.
Stacy is paying for lifetime injuries caused by the pharmacy.
Stacy is a bright woman, but her physical condition is such that she'll never work again. Part of this is due to her medical condition, but much of it is due to the seizures she still has after taking a combination of powerful drugs that all act on the nervous system and cross the blood/brain barrier.

If Stacy had known she had rights at the time she began to become ill from her medication regimen, she would have sued the responsible parties, because seizures that are prolonged can cause brain damage. Stacy was lucky. The side effects did not kill her or make her mentally disabled, but she does stutter from time to time, and she still has seizures occasionally. Her stutter is frustrating and makes her self-conscious, because she never stuttered before this incident. Seizures are miserable things, and the tonic-clonic, or Grand Mal type, as experienced by Stacy, are scary and confusing, and they make the muscles and large joints very sore once the patient wakes up. Stacy spent a year trying to make sense of the reasons she began to have seizures. Her family was very frightened. Had this family known they had rights, all of Stacy's medical care would have been paid for, she would have been compensated for pain and suffering and mental anguish, and punitive damages would likely have been levied against the pharmacy, and possibly her doctors for this mishap.

Don't delay in taking both medical and legal action to protect yourself.
Be quick and be decisive if you are the victim of pharmacy malpractice. Stacy will be the first to tell you that asking questions, insisting on counseling from the pharmacist, and researching your medicines in reliable places are all good practices to help protect you from these sorts of errors. She will also tell you to act quickly. Your chance to make the chain pharmacies sit up and take notice will be gone before you know it.

The 3 groups most at risk for injury due to pharmacy error

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

We trust our medical professionals during times of great stress and distraction in our lives. We take for granted that our doctors and our pharmacists do not make mistakes, but the fact is hospitals make errors on one in five doses of medication administered to patients. Medication error is far too common in the United States-a full twenty percent of patients in hospitals in America are getting the wrong dose of medication.
There is no demographic that is immune to this phenomena. The following patients are physically and mentally most at risk in these cases.

Infants and children,
the elderly, and
those with compromised immune systems

1. Infants and children at risk of medicine error
The effect of a wrong prescription or wrong dosage on children and infants can be much worse than an adult. When a pharmacy makes a mistake on a child's prescription an overdose can cause severe reactions and even death. When infants and children get too much medication for their little bodies to handle this can cause permanent disability and even death.
2. The elderly are at high risk for injury due to pharmacy error
Elderly patients get more of the wrong medications. The elderly are highly at risk for medication errors because they may have more conditions which they need medication for, so there is more chance for drug interaction problems. Some drugs intensify the effects of others, so that one dose may need to be much lower than what is administered. Not double checking in a hospital environment like this can mean overdose, under dose, and improper medication.
3. People with compromised immune systems at risk of pharmacy error
Many factors can affect a person's immune system and make it weak or unable to fight disease. Some people are born with rare diseases that compromise their immune system. Older people are generally less able to fight off an infection or sickness and any medication error could potentially harm them severely.
Detecting medication malpractice or pharmacy malpractice
Medication errors and other medication malpractice in a hospital setting is hard to detect. Medication errors occur at many levels of health care, often due to poor communication and techniques for double checking medication. Bad handwriting, poor communication between doctor, nurse and patient or caregiver, carelessness, and poor labeling practices by both pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies are all contributors to improper medication in the hospital. Human beings are going to make mistakes. It's a part of life and of being human, but twenty percent error in medication type and dosage is far too high. Getting the wrong dose of medication or getting the wrong medication altogether causes severe medical injury and deaths every year.
What to do if you have been affected by medication error
Pharmaceutical drugs are important to a person's health and recovery. If you or a loved one are in the hospital or in a nursing home setting, this type of malpractice should be the last thing you worry about. Unfortunately, pharmacy error is a risk to everyone. If you are the victim of a hospital medication error, or your loved one died as result of this, contact a medication error attorney. You may have a claim against the hospital, the dispensing pharmacy, or the doctor.

New pharmacy error study may shed light on true number of medication errors.

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

There is a new pilot program being conducted in New Zealand, which could reveal information on the number of medication errors outside hospitals and why they happen. The program, called Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, is funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Health and about 40 pharmacists and 40 doctors will voluntarily provide information, including,

recording all medication errors that do not involve blood products
giving feedback on why they think the errors were made and
reporting on how they believe the error could be prevented in the future.

The program will end in May and it is hoped that it will shed light on the true number of medication errors and help make patients safer.

Pharmacies are not legally required to document errors
American pharmacies are not required to document all errors made in the dispensing of medications to patients. Reporting is voluntary.

Often, pharmacists are not even told of a medication mistake until there is a lawsuit involving them, or the State Board of Pharmacy sends them a Letter of Inquiry or Concern, or they are actually disciplined by a state board.

Why Are Medication Errors so Prevalent?
There are many reasons for pharmacy errors, including:

Tired, overworked and rushed pharmacists and technicians
Bad handwriting and transcription on scripts
Failure to communicate between pharmacist and doctor
Failure to cross-check for any contraindications or allergies by both pharmacist and doctor.

There are many other reasons why medication mistakes occur in both the community (pharmacy) and the institutional (hospital/nursing facility) setting. Errors can happen anywhere in the chain of care. No matter the reasons given for errors by your health care team, they have a duty to you to make sure your medicines are safe for you as much as they can.

If you or someone you love is harmed by a medication error, you should consult a lawyer before talking to the pharmacy or their insurance adjuster.

You may have a legitimate claim against the pharmacy, the doctor or the hospital. If you want to know how to take action against prescription errors you can order our FREE book to learn more about pharmacy claims. You can then contact our board certified attorneys to review your case free of charge. Contact our office 24/7 by sending us a confidential contact form or by calling 888-526-7616.

Share your pharmacy mistake story here by leaving a comment below.

Chain Pharmacies Let Prescription Errors Occur Instead of Hiring Another Pharmacist

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

Chain Pharmacies Let Prescription Errors Occur Instead of Hiring Another Pharmacist

Pharmacy Lawsuits Help Prevent Pharmacy Errors from Harming Others

According to a report from USA today, Walgreens, CVS and other chain pharmacies keep one pharmacist on a 12-16 hour shift. This pharmacist oversees three or four pharmacy technicians who don't understand medical jargon or codes as well as he does, who are on the same long and busy schedule and are not paid even half as much. Pharmacists in the trenches estimate that about 300 scripts are filled in a 12-hour shift, and the pharmacist will catch 50 or more medication errors before they reach the patient.

Busy Schedules Linked to Pharmacy Malpractice

Many medication errors and pharmacy misfills are still passed on to the patient because overworked, tired and hungry employees working at an impossibly busy pace will make more mistakes. The bean-counters at chain pharmacies insist that it is not cost-effective to staff more pharmacists and more technicians to prevent medication errors. They would rather pay off the relatively small number of lawsuits that happen each year as a cost of doing business than pay an "extra" pharmacist every shift.

Pharmacy Error kils 7,000 people each year

It is estimated that 7000 people die each year due to pharmacy errors. This is more than the number of people who die from AIDS or car accidents each year in the United States. As if that weren't a shocking enough figure, it is widely believed that the numbers are much higher because pharmacy malpractice is underreported.

The sad fact is that most pharmacy errors are completely preventable. If you or someone you love has been injured because of a prescription error, order our FREE book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay for your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors," to learn more about what you can do to fight back. You can also call our office 24/7 to start your free case review.

Share your pharmacy mistake story here by leaving a comment below.

What are the hidden benefits of pharmacy lawsuits?

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

What are the benefits of pharmacy lawsuits?

Many people don't get a medication mistake lawyer because they don't know that they have rights. They may think there is nothing they can do, even if they were hospitalized due to a pharmacy error. There are many benefits to filing a pharmacy lawsuit, including the fact that once you hire a lawyer you help prevent future errors from happening to others.

Pharmacy Lawsuits Help Prevent Future Medication Errors

The big corporations that own chain pharmacies would rather pay a few people off out of court than ensure the job is done correctly in the first place. It is not popular to say this, but patients have almost an obligation to sue pharmacies for pharmacy malpractice. We can take them to court and make them pay for economic losses and non-economic losses, as they should. If enough people step forward and get legal representation from a competent and qualified pharmacy error attorney, the corporations will be forced to change their operations drastically.

Patients do have rights.

These pharmacy corporations are making money hand over fist by compromising the health and safety of consumers and employees alike. The only way to force them to change the way they do business is to hit them in the pocketbook. Operational procedures at retail pharmacies make sense only for the bottom line. They compromise the safety of the patients who depend on them.
Holding pharmacies accountable.
Making a claim to hold pharmacies financially accountable for their avoidable mistakes will force a change for the better. Know your rights. Talk to an experienced pharmacy malpractice attorney. You may just be preventing the same thing from happening to someone else. If you were injured by pharmacy malpractice, talk to an experienced pharmacy error attorney. This attorney knows the four elements for establishing a claim to sue pharmacies.
Order our FREE book to learn how to take action against pharmacy errors.
Calling a lawyer who specializes in pharmacy malpractice is in your best interest, and the best interest of your family. Order our FREE book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay For Injuries Caused by Medication Errors" to learn how you can take action against pharmacy errors. You can also call 888-526-7616 to start a free case review with board certified attorneys.

3 Tips to avoid pharmacy errors or prescription errors

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

3 Tips to avoid pharmacy errors and keep your family safe

Medication errors injure 1.3 million people every year. We need to be vigilant and insist that our doctors and our pharmacists are paying attention to our medical needs. If you have been the victim of a pharmacy error due to bad handwriting or bad transcription, you may have a claim, and be able to sue the pharmacy or the doctor or both.

Tips to keep your family safe from prescription errors:

Be ever vigilant. Make sure you write down the doctor's instructions, the name of your medicine and the dosage before you leave the exam room.
Ask your doctor about side effects and what to watch for with your medicine.
When you pick up your prescription, check the labels against your notes before you leave the pick-up counter. If you spot a mistake, don't leave the pharmacy until it is corrected. This will help you keep you and your family from being the victim of a medication mix-up.

If you are the victim of a pharmacy error, or your loved one died as result of a medication mistake you may have a claim against the hospital, the dispensing pharmacy, or the doctor. Order a FREE copy of our book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay for your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors," to learn more about what you can do to fight back. Order your free book by calling 877-342-2020 or by filling out our confidential online form.

Share your pharmacy mistake story here by leaving a comment below.

Pharmacy Complaints - Medication Errors and Prescription Errors.

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

My son is nine years old, Bi-Polar, Autistic, and he has seizures. He takes Depakote and Risperidone. His Neurologist changed the dosage on his medicine last month. I took the new prescriptions to CVS, like always. I got his prescriptions home, and they had put the wrong medications in the bottles! Risperidone was in the Depakote bottle, and the Depakote bottle had Risperidone in it. I immediately took them back to the pharmacy. Rather than apologizing for their medication error, they looked at me like I was the one with a problem, and stuck new labels over the old ones. I did complain to the corporate office, since there was no help from the pharmacy, and I finally was called back by the pharmacist at that CVS a week later. She said they were investigating the matter, and she was going to be certain it never happened again. It sounded rehearsed, as if this happens all the time!
If I had given my son the medications as they were labeled, without paying attention to what I was doing, he could have become ill or died from this pharmacy mistake. CVS doesn't seem to care. I have changed pharmacies over this.

Pharmacy complaints nationwide

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

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 problems. 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?

Prescription errors at pharmacies

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

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 next 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!

Failing to check drug interaction causes seizures

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

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 Cyclosprine, and within 3 weeks, I started to have violent seizures. My family has no history of seizures, and I've never had them.
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.

Walgreens mislabeled dosage of methodone; toxic levels ingested as a result

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

My mother was given methadone to control chronic pain last year. The doctor wrote the prescription for 10 milligrams, and she was supposed to take four of them twice a day. The Walgreens pharmacy labeled it wrong, giving instructions to take four as needed for pain. She took her methadone for a whole day, and then died from methadone toxicity. She was only 56 years old. I found her on the kitchen floor two days later when I went over to check on her.
I don't understand how a medication error like this can happen. Walgreens keeps telling us they have systems in place to check this and keep people safe, but they failed. The pharmacist should be sued for malpractice. Walgreens should be shut down forever! There is no excuse for a medication mistake like this. I'm never going to have my mother's company again. They can never fix this, and they are responsible for giving her too much medication and causing her death.

Walgreens Pharmacy Lawsuit for medication errors

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

Noteworthy: Prescription Error Attorney Wins Pharmacy Lawsuit Against Walgreens

In Florida, a widow and her children have won a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Walgreens. In 2001, a Walgreens prescription error caused her husband to take an overdose of methadone, a powerful narcotic pain reliever. The error was in the way the prescription was labeled. The man's doctor told him to take 4 of the pills twice a day for pain in his back and legs. Instead, the pharmacy, part of the nation's largest retail pharmacy chain, mislabeled the prescription.

The directions on the label told the man to take four methadone as needed for pain. He was dead, curled up in the shower within 36 hours of picking up the prescription. This error left a woman without her husband, children without their father. It was a completely preventable error. Walgreens is appealing the verdict, but it is not widely believed they will win.

Walgreens Isn't Alone, and Neither Are You

Millions of dollars have been awarded to plaintiffs in wrongful death and pharmacy error lawsuits against

Walgreens,
CVS,
Rite-Aid,
Kmart, and
many other retail pharmacies.

You May Have a Pharmacy Error Claim even if you only have minor symptoms

You may think there is nothing you can do when something bad happens as a result of medication errors. Maybe you only became dizzy for a day or two, or maybe you just threw up a lot until the medicine was out of your system. These are medication error injuries. The consequences of leaving these injuries untreated can be severe.

Know Your Rights - Speak Out

Your claim may not be worth millions of dollars, but if you or a loved one was harmed by medication error, contact a competent pharmacy error attorney to help you get what you are owed. You don't have to settle for being treated like you don't matter. You don't have to sign anything, and you don't have to make any recorded statements to the insurance adjuster working for the pharmacy without qualified legal representation. Know your rights.

There are lawsuits across the country still pending against Walgreens, Kmart, Wal-Mart, CVS, Rite-Aid, Target and other retail pharmacies. Keep in mind that medication error occurs across the entire healthcare system, from doctor's offices and hospitals and other institutions to the pharmacy. A qualified medication mistake attorney has resources at his disposal to find the source of the error and sue the right person or group of people.