Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog
Earlier this year in April, the Air Force released a report indicating that it had prescribed the wrong medication on an Air Force base in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Evidently, on April 29th, someone reported that their prescription was not properly filled; Tylenol was prescribed instead of Robaxin, a muscle relaxer.
The Air Force immediately conducted an internal investigation and found that 1273 patients had been provided the incorrect medication at the Kitty Hawk base. Of those, the Air Force was able to contact 926 of the patients by telephone to let them know that they may have been proved the wrong medication. The remaining patients were sent a certified letter in the mail to let them know of the pharmacy’s error. Air Force records indicate that no one actually took the improperly prescribed drugs.
According to a report by the Dayton Daily News, the medication errors were due to a malfunction in an automated system that the Air Force pharmacy uses to fill prescriptions. Once the error was found, pharmacists and pharmacy techs began to fill all prescriptions by hand to ensure that patients received the correct medication.
Air Force Officers have indicated that they will be reviewing the process by which prescriptions are filled at the Kitty Hawk facility, to ensure that this does not occur again in the future. They also explained that there does not appear to be any intentional wrongdoing, and that there will not likely need to be any disciplinary action taken.
Interestingly, federally run pharmacies do not need to report pharmacy errors to the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy, the organization that tracks pharmacy errors across the country. Therefore it is difficult to say how many similar medication errors have occurred in the past.
Maryland Pharmacy Errors
In Maryland, just like everywhere else in the country, pharmacists and doctors occasionally make mistakes and provide patients with the incorrect mediation. When this happens, patients are at great risk of worsening their condition, or experiencing dangerous side effects of an unprescribed medication. The law does not generally expect patients to know that they have been prescribed the wrong medication. In other words, generally speaking, a patient is reasonable in relying on the doctor’s and pharmacists word that a drug is what they say it is.
Have You Been Prescribed the Wrong Medication?
If you or a loved one has recently been prescribed the wrong medication by a doctor or a pharmacy, you should immediately seek medical attention to determine if you are at immediate risk. After that, you may wish to contact an experienced Maryland pharmacy error attorney to determine if you may have a case against the doctor or pharmacy for providing you with the incorrect medication. Both doctors and pharmacies are under a duty to provide diligent care. This duty can be violated when improper drugs are provided to a patient. To learn more about Maryland pharmacy errors and the laws that protect Marylanders from dangerous unproscribed drugs, click here or call the Maryland personal injury law firm of Lebowitz & Mzhen at 410-654-3600.
More Blog Posts:
Colorado Man Recovers Over $10 Million in Pharmaceutical Error Case, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, May 7, 2014.
Pharmaceutical Company’s Failure to Warn Did Not Cause Plaintiff’s Injury, Court Rules, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, April 29, 2014.