Our Baltimore medication error attorneys have been following a recent pharmacy misfill incident that reportedly sent a Colorado Springs mother into great shock—as she nearly gave her small child an epilepsy drug that had been accidentally given to her by the pharmacist at a local Walgreens.
According to KDRO News, Channel 13, Kathy DeRosa went to pick up her son’s Motrin flu medication from the Walgreen’s pharmacy. The prescription reportedly had her 2-year-old’s name on it, along with medication information about the drug. Upon returning home, DeRosa noticed that bottle was smaller than the usual Motrin that she previously received for her son, and after investigating the bottle, she realized that the drug give to him was Levetiracetam—a drug used for epilepsy. DeRosa immediately called the Walgreens pharmacy manager about the prescription error and they brought the correct medicine to the house, apologizing for the dangerous mistake.
Levetiracetam, the drug mistakenly given to DeRosa’s son, is reported to have many potential side effects including fever, hallucinations a drop in white blood count and breathing difficulty, and is not intended to be used for children under the age of four. DeRosa claims that had her son taken the medication he could be in the emergency room, as he has asthma.
According to DeRosa, this pharmacy misfill shows parents the importance of carefully reading the labels on their children’s prescription bottles before leaving the pharmacy, and to check for potential prescription error. Had it not been for the change in bottle shape, DeRosa said they could be in a very serious situation right now.
Walgreens has publicly stated that prescription errors are rare and serious, and that the pharmacies have a multi-step pharmacy process in place with many safety checks in order to reduce the chance of human error, that as our attorneys have discussed previously, could lead to personal injury.
In the state of Maryland, contact our medication mistake attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers today.
Walgreens Gives Mom Wrong Meds For Toddler, KRDO News/Channel 13, April 11, 2011
Related Web Resources:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Medication Error Reports
Institute for Safe Medication Practices, (ISMP)
20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors in Children: Patient Fact Sheet, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Related Blog Posts:
Another Child Receives Prescription Mix-up From Same Walgreens Pharmacy, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, February 23, 2011
Walgreen’s Pharmacy Error Sends Two-year-old Child to the Hospital, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, September 14, 2010