Errors in local pharmacies

Woman Sues Walgreens for Seizure Medication Pharmacy Error

July 14, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyers have been following, a Texas woman filed a lawsuit against Walgreens last week, claiming that a pharmacist mislabeled her medication—a mistake the woman claims, that could have caused her wrongful death.

According to Jessica Soliz, a Walgreens pharmacist made a major pharmacy error when labeling her prescription for seizure medication. After Soliz picked up her prescription drugs from the pharmacy and began taking them, she reportedly became very ill. The prescription error wasn’t discovered until a nurse looked at the label, and realized that prescription was mislabeled to read that each pill contained 25 milligrams of Lamictal, when in fact each pill in the bottle contained 100 milligrams or the drug.

According to the FDA, the most common medication errors are due to wrong doses, incorrect drugs, or the incorrect administration of drugs. The Institute of Medicine reports that there are around 1.5 million medication error injuries that happen every year, with at least 7,000 deaths.

In Soliz’s case, Walgreens responded that they were sorry that this pharmacy error occurred. They stated that they take pharmacy safety seriously, and are constantly working to improve the quality, accuracy and service of all pharmacy orders, to prevent pharmacy error injury or wrongful death.

Patient Sues Wal-Mart Pharmacy for Prescription Mix-Up

May 31, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent lawsuit that our Maryland Pharmacy Error Injury Attorneys have been following, a Wal-mart pharmacy is being accused of giving a Texas resident another patient’s prescription—a pharmacy mistake that reportedly led to personal injuries and physical suffering.

According to the lawsuit, when Joseph Nini picked up his prescription at the Wal-Mart Pharmacy on March 25, 2008, he was given another patient’s medication by the pharmacist on duty, Cindy Lee Carranza.

Nini, a 77-year old Jasper County resident, claims that after taking the incorrect medication, he had to go to the hospital, as the medication made him ill and caused him to endure personal injuries as well physical pain, mental anguish, and physical impairment.

Wal-mart and Carranza are being accused of being responsible for causing his injuries, as Nini claims that they negligently failed to dispense the proper medication, failed to comply with the pharmacy policies put into place to prevent pharmacy misfills and the accidental dispensing of medication to the wrong patient, and failed to contact him or properly communicate with him when the pharmacy discovered that he had been given the wrong medication.

FDA Accuses Franck’s Pharmacy of Illegal Compounding

May 21, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a highly publicized pharmacy error case from last year that our Washington D.C. Pharmacy Error Attorneys covered in a blog, 21 Venezuelan polo team horses tragically died after being given a drug mixed by Frank’s Pharmacy Compounding Lab, aimed to replicate Biodyl, a vitamin and mineral supplement that is often used to treat muscle fatigue in horses. The drug concoction was allegedly too strong, causing a medication error that lead to the death of the horses at the International Polo Club of Palm Beach in Florida.

This week, Franck’s Pharmacy voluntarily suspended all veterinary compounding in the lab, after reportedly being threatened with an injunction by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Last month, the FDA filed a complaint that Franck’s was going around the law by producing and selling misbranded and adulterated drugs and pharmacy compounds that were too similar to drugs that are FDA-approved.

According to the FDA, compounded drugs are not reviewed by the FDA for effectiveness and safety. Drug compounding has been criticized for lack of oversight—especially when both human and animal patients could be exposed to unapproved medication, that could result personal injury or even in this case death. In an FDA Compliance Policy Guide from 2003, the agency stated concerns about the risks posed by pharmacists and veterinarians who manufacture, distribute, and mass-markets animal drugs that are unapproved.

The FDA has reportedly had a strong interest in this case, as the deaths of these horses were caused by pharmacy error—from the same pharmacy that produces drugs for humans.

The Problem of Prescription Language Translations in Pharmacies

May 17, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Pharmacy Misfill Attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland recently posted a blog that discussed the epidemic of prescription error stemming from poor language translations in pharmacies across the country—causing pharmacy misfill and medication errors that could lead to patient injury.

In a study that our attorneys discussed, published in the May issue of Pediatrics, researchers found that pharmacies using labels that have been translated into Spanish with a computer program often provide inaccurate or confusing drug instructions filled with medication errors—often delivered in a mix of English and Spanish or “Spanglish.” The study looked at 76 labels for prescriptions generated by 13 different pharmacy translation computer programs, and there was a reported error rate of 50 percent.

Dr. Alejandro Clavier, a doctor in Chicago told the Chicago Tribune that he experiences translation issues with his patients in his practice every day. In one example, a patient who suffers from anemia was not improving after taking the iron supplements that Clavier prescribed. Clavier found that the patient had only been taking one drop of the iron supplement—not the stronger dosage Clavier prescribed. The patient had reportedly received instructions from the pharmacy that were confusing and hard to understand.

According to a study performed by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, many pharmacies in four states with a large and growing Latino population are unable to even provide translations for prescriptions. The 2009 study found that nearly 35 percent of the pharmacies surveyed did not even offer translations services, and 22 percent offered pharmacy translations that were limited.

Study Shows E-Prescribing Significantly Reduces Prescription Errors

April 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland Attorneys have been following, doctors are reportedly increasingly leaving behind paper when prescribing medications, and depending more and more on electronic prescriptions, or “e-prescriptions”—in an effort to avoid pharmacy misfills and medication errors, along with hard-to-read doctor handwriting, or even prescription fraud, as our attorneys reported on in our last blog.

E-prescribing immediately sends the prescriptions to the pharmacy in a digital format through a secured Internet network, from a handheld device or from their computers. The doctor simply selects the drug from a computerized list, with other symbols indicating the best drug option, different dosages, and either generic or name-brand medicine, instead of hand-writing the prescription, which can lead to medication error. Some e-prescribing programs give symbols in the form of colored or smiling faces, delineating between cheapest, preferred, or less desirable drug options.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of e-prescriptions almost tripled last year, from 68 million in the previous year, to 191 million in 2009. Surescripts, LLC, the company that handles the majority of the electronic communications in e-prescribing, reports that this represents 12% of the 1.63 billion original prescriptions, which excludes refills. The first three months of this year showed that one out of every five prescriptions is being filed electronically—a number that is rapidly growing, as nearly 25% of doctors based in offices already have the technology to e-prescribe.

In a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in February of this year, e-prescribing was found to reduce common hand-written prescriptions errors significantly, including pharmacy misfills containing the wrong dosage, or incorrect usage instructions that could lead to patient injury or even wrongful death.

Hollywood Prescription Drug Abuse —Illegal Drug Rackets and “Doctor Shopping”

April 26, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a blog from last week, our Washington-D.C. area Pharmacy Error Attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen covered the topic of illegal prescription drugs, after a Maryland pharmacist was sentenced to federal prison for selling illegal painkillers to a drug dealer—drugs that were meant to be used under the supervision of a doctor, that could lead to personal injury, drug overdose and death.

According to the Baltimore Sun, prescription drugs are currently the number one cause of death overdose in the country. The Office of National Drug Policy claims that in his past year of drug abuse, prescription pain killers now rank second, behind marijuana as the nation’s most prevalent illegal drug problem. The National Institute of Medicine reports that 20 percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, leading to addiction.

In a recent Hollywood tragedy, Corey Haim, star of the 80’s film The Lost Boys, died in what officials from the Los Angeles Police Department claim was an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. After an investigation, Haim’s name surfaced in connection with an illegal prescription drug ring in Southern California with the painkiller OxyContin. The drug ring was linked to as many as 5,000 prescriptions—by ordering prescription pads from authorized vendors and stealing doctors’ identities.

Prescription drug overdose has been ruling news headlines over the past few years, after deaths of high profile celebrities like Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith.

Many addicts are reportedly getting their prescriptions drugs by “doctor shopping,” or going from doctor to doctor to collect prescriptions. According to the Sun, Maryland needs a system to monitor the number of prescriptions that are written for every patient, which if abused by “doctor shopping” can lead to medication error and injury. The Sun calls for Maryland Legislators to set up a drug task force to better monitor and control this drug epidemic.

Baltimore, Maryland Pharmacist Sentenced for Selling Illegal Prescription Drugs to Dealer

April 23, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent Baltimore, Maryland Pharmacy Error news, a local pharmacist in Reisterstown was reportedly sentenced to six years in federal prison for illegally selling 34,000 prescription drug painkillers to a drug dealer.

Maryland’s U.S. Attorney’s office announced this month that Ketankumar Arvind Patel, a former pharmacist for the Medicine Shoppe pharmacy, was working with a drug dealer to sell drugs containing the opioid oxycodone, like OxyContin and Percocet. Patel reportedly showed the drug dealer how to write fake prescriptions with a blank prescription pad to avoid detection from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), other authorities, and insurance companies.

The drug dealer went on to fill out multiple fake prescriptions in different patient names for both prescription painkillers, and Patel filled them in his pharmacy from July 2007 to March 2009. The Department of Justice claims that Patel sold around 620 prescriptions for the dealer, at around $8-$12 per 80mg pill of the drug OxyContin, and around $2-$10 per 10mg pill of the drug Percocet.

According to U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosensten, prescription medication abuse is one of the leading law enforcement challenges, with drugs that are meant to be used under the supervision of a doctor, sold to substance abusers who become addicted to the drugs, which has become increasingly prevalent among young adults and teenagers, and can lead to personal injury or even wrongful death.

Pharmacy Error in English-Spanish translated Drug Labels and Instructions

April 19, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent study that our Maryland Pharmacy Misfill Attorneys have been following, the problem of prescription translations from English to Spanish in pharmacies nationwide is being exposed, as well as the potential for medication error with customers.

The study, published in the May issue of Pediatrics, shows that many Spanish speaking people living in the United States are receiving prescription drugs from pharmacies with labels and instructions that have been translated so poorly from English to Spanish, that they are riddled with errors, misspellings, and incorrect phrasing. The prescription medications in these cases proved to have the potential of being more of a health hazard than a health benefit to patients if incorrectly administered—which could lead to personal injury or wrongful death.

According to the study results, the prescription translation errors are occurring because of poor translation systems in the computer programs that most pharmacies depend on for Spanish to English medication translations.

The study focused on 286 pharmacies in the Bronx, New York, where a reported 44 percent of the city’s population speak Spanish. The results found that 86 percent of pharmacies provided Spanish labels and instructions that were translated by computer programs, 11 percent used staff members for translations, and 3 percent of pharmacies used a professional interpreter to translate the labels and instructions.

The researchers reportedly found dozens of incidents where the quality of the medication label and instruction translations were dangerouly inconsistent. A common problem was that the computer program translated the prescription information into “Spanglish”— a mix of English and Spanish that was hard to read and often confusing. One example of a medication translation mistake was the use of the word “once” in English, meaning “once a day” that also means “eleven” in Spanish, which could result in a possible overdose. Other instructions that were not properly translated included phrases like, “apply topically,” or take “with juice,” or “with food,” as well as the length of the drug course, like “for seven days.”

AHRQ Tips for Preventing Medical Mistakes with Children

March 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In yesterday’s blog, our Baltimore, Maryland Medical Mistake Attorneys discussed leading causes of medical mistakes with children in this country, and important ways to prevent medical errors from happening.

According to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, 88% of medication errors involve the wrong dosage or incorrect drug. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the lead Federal agency that supports research to improve the quality of healthcare, addresses the importance of patient safety and the cause of many medical errors in a recently published press release.

In the press release, the AHRQ addresses the large problem of medical mistakes with children in this country, and gives parents and guardians tips on how to prevent these medical errors from happening with children, to avoid personal injury.

According to the AHRQ:

• Being involved in your child’s healthcare is the most important way to prevent medical errors or pharmacy misfills. The AHRQ stresses that it is extremely important for parents or guardians to take part in every decision that is made regarding the healthcare for a child.

• Make sure that your child’s doctors know every detail regarding the history and statistics (height and weight) of your child, every prescription, all over the counter medications, and any vitamins or dietary or herbal supplements, as well as any known allergies to any medication.

• At least once a year, bring a bag of everything your child is taking and go through each one with the doctor to ensure that there is no problem or conflict with any medication.

• Make sure you can read every prescription that the doctor writes. Double check the name and dosage, or if there is any question, have the doctor re-write the prescription in capital letters, printing the name of the drug and the dosage. If you can’t read the doctor’s handwriting, chances are the pharmacist will not be able to either.

Keeping Children Safe—Eliminating Mistakes from the Children’s Healthcare Industry

March 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In our last blog, our Maryland Attorneys from Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, discussed a recent pharmacy misfill, where an 8-year old boy received the wrong dosage of a medication that could have caused the child serious personal injury or even wrongful death.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), medical errors are one of the leading causes of injury and death in this country. The AHRQ reports that in a recent study, rates for potential adverse drug events in hospitals were three times higher with children than adults, with an even higher rate for infants in intensive care units.

The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, (NCCMERP), estimates that nearly 98,000 people experience death from medical errors that occur in hospitals every year. Medication errors can happen at any point in the healthcare process and system and can result in injury—from miscommunication with doctors, to prescribing the drug, dispensing drugs at the pharmacy, or in the administering or the process of monitoring the drugs.

The AHRQ recommends that single most important way to prevent medical errors from happening to your child, is to be an active participant with the healthcare team that is caring for your child. Research shows that parents who are involved in all aspects and decisions of a child’s care experience better and safer results.