Errors in local pharmacies

Medication Therapy Management and the Prevention of Medication Error

December 28, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), medication-related events are a massive problem to this country’s public health and well being. As our Baltimore medication error injury attorneys have reported in a related blog, according to the APhA, 1.5 million people are injured by medication errors every year, that cost around $177 billion in personal injury and death, and could be preventable.

Ed Webb, associate executive director of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, recently stated that prescribed medication is only beneficial if taken correctly, and if medication therapy is not managed well, it can do harm. Webb, along with other experts, recommends medication checkups, known in the business as medication therapy management, or MTM.

As our Baltimore pharmacy error attorneys also discussed recently in a blog, more and more people are being encouraged to make appointments with their pharmacists as well as their doctors to discuss the medications that they take in an effort to prevent medication error, pharmacy misfill or patient injury.

Patients reportedly often end up saving money when meeting with pharmacists, by switching prescriptions to generic drugs instead of brand-name, or dropping medications that they may no longer need. Other patients are often able to eliminate medication side effects with help from a pharmacist on the best time to take the medication, possibly changing to a different drug, or avoiding a potentially dangerous mix-up of drugs, which can lead to expensive trips to urgent care or emergency rooms and result in personal injury.

CVS Pharmacy Misfill Mixes up Child’s Hyperactivity Drug with Methadone

December 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Baltimore pharmacy error attorneys have been following, a nine-year-old child in Las Vegas reportedly received an accidental pharmacy misfill at a local CVS Pharmacy, after his hyperactivity medication was filled with methadone, a drug frequently used to treat withdrawal and dependence problems with people who are addicted to Heroin.

Tammy Jordan claimed that her son, Kyren, an active kid, is sometimes prescribed the drug Methylphenidate, to help treat his hyperactivity disorder. Jordan claims that she didn’t even check after picking up the prescription from CVS, as this was a common medication for her son.

According to KTNV.com, Jordan reportedly noticed that after Kyren had been taking the prescription misfill for an entire month, he couldn’t sit still, and couldn’t tell his mother why. A few weeks later, after dropping off the medication at Kyren’s school, the nurse called Jordan, and was alarmed that Kyren was taking Methadone and not Methylphenidate—the medication that the nurse regularly gave to the child.

Jordan claims that she was shocked by the medication error, and stopped Kyren from taking any more of the drug. He reportedly went through a period of withdrawal, but made a full recovery with no injury. Once Kyren recovered, she reportedly approached CVS, where the pharmacist on duty took the bottle and peeled off the first label, revealing that another label had been mistakenly placed on top of Kyren’s medication.

The state Board of Pharmacy is reportedly looking into the prescription drug misfill, to decide what exactly what happened, and how to prevent prescription filling errors from happening in the future.

In a recent blog our Baltimore pharmacy error injury lawyers discussed tips for preventing pharmacy misfills when picking up your child’s prescription at the pharmacy, including verifying the medication, always double checking the name on the prescription, the dosage, usage, and whether the drug is suitable for your child’s weight and size.

State Rep. Robert Nutting Disciplined for Pharmacy Misfill

December 3, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Republican State Representative Robert Nutting, who was recently chosen to be Maine’s speaker of the House, and is also a pharmacist, has recently been disciplined by a state agency, for a pharmacy misfill, that allegedly occurred in August of 2009.

According to an article in the Times Record, that our Baltimore pharmacy misfill injury attorneys have been following, while Nutting was working as a pharmacist at Wal-Mart, he erroneously filled a customer’s prescription with Zolpidem, an anti-psychotic medication, instead of a prescription for the anti-depressant drug Zoloft. The Times Record reported that the customer discovered the pharmacy misfill before the medication was taken.

On October 1, 2010, Nutting reportedly received a letter from the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation detailing the consent agreement for the incident, that Nutting signed with the attorney general’s office and the department. Nutting acknowledged the error and stated that as a pharmacist he should be disciplined.

Nutting reportedly agreed to a written department warning, paid a $100 penalty, and completed a continuing education course approved by the board on the topic of prescription misfills. Nutting stated that this state disciplinary action due to the pharmacy misfill has no relevance to his election as Maine’s speaker of the House.

Study Finds Maryland Hospitals Improve Safety and Health Standards

November 17, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A recent study, published in the medical journal, Quality & Safety in Health Care, reportedly found that thirty-five Maryland hospitals showed notable improvements in the safe delivery and administration of drugs to patients in hospitals.

The study was performed on behalf of the Maryland Patient Safety Center, whose aim is to create health care in Maryland that is safer than any other state in the country by reducing adverse medication events, improving patient safety, and by focusing on improving the care systems in Maryland hospitals.

Released in October of last year, the study concluded that when measuring the delivery of medication, the combined Maryland safety scores for these hospitals dealing with acute care rose by almost 10 percent in over two years, reducing occurrences of medication errors.

By comparing safety data on medication and drug use between the years of 2005 and 2007, the authors of the study reported that Maryland hospitals received the highest scores in the packaging of drugs, the standardized distribution of drugs and safe labeling, safe storage of drugs, and keeping chemicals that are hazardous away from drug-preparation and patient areas, to reduce patient injury or harm.

CVS Pays $75 million for Illegal Sale of Pseudoephedrine in Stores

October 20, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our pharmacy error injury attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland have been following, CVS Pharmacy will reportedly pay $75 million for breaking the law by selling huge quantities of psuedoephedrine, the key ingredient in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, an illegal drug abused widely in California.

Psuedoephedrine, or PSE is found in specific cold and allergy medications, and necessary to produce methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant with links to crime and violence in California, among other states. In an effort to reduce pharmacy error, and production of methamphetamine, the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 was introduced, to require retailers who carry PSE products to shelf them behind the counter, to check the identification of the person purchasing the drug, and to limit sales to the individual or one package a day, and three a month. Each customer is also required to sign for the purchase.

According to Thomas Ryan, CVS Caremark Chairman, the sale of the products containing PSE was an illegal and unacceptable violation of CVS’s policies, and inconsistent with the drug chain’s values. The CVS company admitted that drugstores in California and Nevada, among other states, were susceptible for over a year to criminal manufacturers who repeatedly bought enough PSE to make Methamphetamine.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated that CVS’s violations made the company directly linked to the methamphetamine supply chain, and that the company only reversed the problem once the government investigated the pharmacy violation.

Walgreen’s Pharmacy Error Sends Two-year-old Child to the Hospital

September 14, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent news story that our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury attorneys have been following, a two-year-old child was rushed to the hospital, after a prescription error was made at a Jersey City Walgreen’s pharmacy, while dispensing the boy’s allergy medication prescription.

According to the Jersey Journal, the father of the young boy reportedly went to the Walgreen’s Pharmacy to pick up the prescription for his son’s hydrocortisone prescription, to treat his allergies. The pharmacy gave the father the correct medication for his child, and in addition, the wrong prescription for 10mg of oxycodone, a powerful pain medication that had been filled for a patient who shared the same last name and first initial as the boy.

Crystal Williams, the boy’s mother, reportedly gave her two-year-old child one of the Oxycodone pills, and after ten minutes was alarmed when the child looked dangerously sleepy. Williams then realized the serious pharmacy error that had occurred, after reading the label on prescription bottle—discovering that her child had been given a drug with someone else’s name on it.

Upon discovering the pharmacy error, Williams dialed 911, and rushed her child to the hospital where doctors reportedly gave him shots to keep him alert. A few hours later he was transferred to an intensive care unit at a different hospital. According to Michael Curci, the pharmacy director for LibertyHealth, which operates the Medical Center where the boy was originally taken, an excessive amount of oxycodone can be life threatening, as it can cause respiratory depression and the inability to breathe.

Preventing Prescription Errors: Consumer Reports Health Poll Finds Patients Want More Drug Information

August 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyers have been following the results of a recent Consumer Reports Health Poll, that found that 65 percent of most Americans feel that drug makers have too much influence on doctors, and that doctors are too quick to prescribe drugs instead of exploring other non-drug options to manage health conditions. The poll also found that as patients, many Americans have a strong desire to acquire more drug information and safety details to prevent prescription errors in the future.

The Consumer Reports Health Poll found that:

• 45 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug per day on a regular basis, and on average, they take around four prescription drugs.
• 39 percent of American consumers cut costs on personal healthcare in ways that might be dangerous and could lead to personal injury, with 27 percent failing to comply with drug prescriptions. In an effort to save money, 38 percent of individuals under the age of 65 who don’t have prescription drug coverage, failed to even fill the prescription.
• 87 percent of Americans stated that understanding the safety of a prescription drug was very important, and 79 percent of individuals were concerned about dangerous drug interactions. 78 percent worried about drug side effects.

• 47 percent of Americans said they think that pharmaceutical companies sway doctors’ choice of drug administration for patients based on gifts, and 41 percent of people stated that they think doctors tend to prescribe newer drugs that are more expensive.

According to the Institute of Medicine, at least 1.5 million drug errors occur every year in this country—errors that are preventable. John Santa, M.D. M.P.H., and Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center director, claimed in the study that Americans who are taking multiple drugs considered drug safety and side effects to be a high priority. The poll found that safety information provided in the pharmacy, doctor’s office or hospitals is not always comprehensive enough to prevent medication mistakes or drug error, and needs to be addressed.

Study Reviews Risk Levels Associated with Pharmacy Drug Dispensing

August 26, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Washington D.C. pharmacy error injury lawyers, we have been following recent study results released by the company Centice, that discuss the risk levels associated with drug dispensing processes, and the occurrence of pharmacy errors or misfills.

Centice is a company focused on the chemical verification of dispensed prescription drugs, and has recently published findings from that investigate levels of risk in the dispensing process for prescription drugs from Pharmacy Quality Assurance and Rx Verification Study.

According to the study’s research, after a single pharmacy error in the dispensing process, pharmacists can spend up to fifty hours correcting the dispensing error, or Quality Related Event (QRE).

Centice claimed that when looking at the total prescriptions filled, pharmacy error rates are very small, but when factored into dispensing many prescriptions over a period of time, given average pharmacy filling volumes, any prescription error that leaves the pharmacy can impact customer retention and the financial stability of the pharmacy, and could also lead to potential patient injury or even wrongful death.

USP Advisory Panel Pushes for Prescription Label Standardization

July 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the misuse of medication results in over one million adverse drug events every year. In a recent blog, our attorneys discussed the current efforts made by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) to establish a universal standard for prescription drug labels and instructions, by issuing a series of recommendations in order to add more consistency to prescription labeling—to reduce medication errors that can result in personal injury or wrongful death.

The USP is a Maryland-based nonprofit organization that issues standards that are legally enforceable for the quality, strength, and purity of medicines in this country. In 2007, the USP developed the Health Literacy and Prescription Container Labeling Advisory Panel to examine the different ways prescription drug labeling could be improved.

The IOM claims that health literacy affects ninety million adults, who are unable to benefit properly from the health care due to a lack of understanding of drug instructions and information about medication interactions. After the IOM called for new drug label standards, the USP panel recently released recommendations that are based on patient well being, and health literacy—as bad health literacy can cause medication errors, and increase the potential for heath risks and personal injury.

According to Joanne G. Schwartzberg, co-chair of the panel, standardizing the medication labels can markedly improve the health and safety of patients, by providing reliable, simple and straightforward information. The USP panel recommendations cover the appearance, content, format and languages on prescription labels, in an effort to optimize patient understanding, and eliminate medication error and misuse.

Man Sues CVS for Pharmacy Misfill

July 28, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury attorneys reported in a recent blog, pharmacy errors or misfills can happen in every step of a prescription’s path in a pharmacy. Many factors can lead to prescription error, including misunderstanding a doctor’s handwriting, making mistakes with prescription codes or abbreviations, and misreading a patient’s medical conditions or medication list, among others.

In a recent pharmacy mistake lawsuit, filed last month, Charles Stevens, 70, was given a prescription for Lomotil, an anti-diarrhea medicine that he dropped off to be filled at his local CVS Pharmacy in Santa Barbara, CA in 2009. When Stevens picked up his prescription, he was allegedly mistakenly given a prescription for Warfarin Sodium, a medication prescribed for blood-thinning. Stevens was reportedly already taking blood-thinning medication, and after taking the prescription misfill, he suffered major bleeding, and was immediately taken by his wife to the hospital.

Stevens and his wife are reportedly suing CVS for pharmacy negligence, and pharmacy malpractice, claiming that the pharmacy failed to read the prescription correctly, misfilled his medication bottle with incorrect drugs, and failed to properly analyze Stevens’ medication profile, which could have prevented the medication mistake.

CVS reportedly has a patient profile mechanism that is used to protect patients from such dangerous drug errors as well as dangerous drug combinations, or repeat or double-diagnoses. According to Stevens’ attorney, CVS reportedly admitted to the pharmacy mistake and Stevens’ lawyers are asking for over $200,000 in damages.