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Pharmacy Errors

Pharmacy errors including dispensing the wrong medicine or the wrong dose are not uncommon. Often, this can result in catastrophic damage.

An example of a serious pharmacy error occurred at a nationally known pharmacy chain where a woman was wrong given Flomax, a medication given to men for prostate and urinary problems, when her doctor prescribed an anti-rejection medication following a kidney transplant. The rejection medication was mostly likely kept on the same shelve next to the Flomax since it also had a name which started with the letter “F”.

The plaintiff had a transplanted kidney and according to the Chief of the Transplant Surgery Team was caused to lose 10 years of life and to suffer serious injuries.

This kind of pharmacy error often follows the failure of the pharmacy personnel to follow proper procedure including scanning the prescription, the label, and the medicine into a preset computer to verify the accuracy of the medication being dispensed.

In the case noted the pharmacy assistant bypassed the scan resulting in catastrophic damage.

This is but one example of a pharmacy error.

Advice: Always check your medicine and make sure it is correct before you leave the pharmacy.