Pharmacies Mistakes Can Kill
 

Originally Posted by Baby Blessing
I JUST READ YOUR POST ON THE WRONG MEDS GIVEN YOU PLEASE WOULD YOU POST THIS AS A THREAD IT IS HAPPENING AND PEOPLE REALLY NEED TO BE AWARE, IF IT IS STARTED AS A THREAD FROM YOU IT WILL BE MORE NOTICABLE. THIS HAPPENED TO US AND ALSO A NEIGHBOR OF OURS YEARS AGO. THANK YOU FOR POSTING,
PATTI AND BABY BLESSING


Thursday when I picked my prescription up at the pharmacy... I saw the pills were white and they should have been blue. I took it to a different pharamacy to have them identify it.. It WAS the wrong medicine for me ... I went back to the original pharmacy and they said the pharmacist (probably a "student" pharmacist) made a mistake. (some mistake,yes?)

I shall check my meds at the register from now on .... and I am glad I knew what color it should have been. Also double check on the dosage ....

That's so scarry! I'm glad you noticed the difference and thought to have it double checked! Thank the Lord for protecting you!

Its so sad and yes it does happen, I have a Aunt that her new born baby died because of the wrong dose.This was years ago and The Doctor asked for the meds back.

That's scary:eek: Amber almost lost her baby Daisy b/c of a pharmacy screw up:mad: It never hurts to be extra careful and to question them if you feel it's not right.

Thanks for posting this, I think it's important:thumbup:

This can and does happen every day! When Patrick was first diagnosed with high blood pressure, it was stroke level and it took months to get a medication that would actually regulate it! They tried a dozen different ones before it was back in a safe zone. Our doctor cautioned us to never, ever allow a pharmacy to give his the generic but to only give us the brand!! I know they will always, always tell you that the only difference is the price, but evidently there is something different when one works and the other doesn't!! It never fails, every time we move and have to change pharmacies, we have this same argument ... they insist generic is OK and we insist on brand!! I have even picked the prescription up and had to take it back because they had taken it upon themselves to fill it with generic! They think you are out of your mind to spend that kind of money for brand when you can get generic so much cheaper. I told one of them once, "I don't give a krap if it's $500, my finances are none of your business and the day I need you to manage them I will let you know!!" grrrrrrrr These kind of liberties with a prescription are what makes me double check dosage, etc. every time I have a prescription filled! We would love to save the money but if it costs more to prevent Patrick having another stroke, so be it!!

So scary!!! I always check my meds cause I'm so paranoid.

Patti,
The medical alert bracelet is a G-dsend ... there would be more accidents without that info .... but everyone should be aware and double check their meds ....
I pay so much more for the BRAND name, but I feel itz my health .... My husband taught me that (R.I.P)
I am glad this forum is so educational .... itz the All Purpose Forum for us Yorkie Lovers ...

I am sorry this happened to you, as a pharmacist and past employee of Target, I hope that you demand counseling on every pickup. At Target, we as a policy had to show the pills to the guest upon pickup. That way both feel secure in the dispensing. Yet, I must say as the pharmacist is pulled in every way nowadays, there is a heightened chance of error. I have heard the pharmacist must help guests on the floor, fill prescriptions, and ring the register..while filling your rx!!! So please be patient, we are working to decrease the demand on our profession, but check your medication before leaving!!

Angela,RPh.

PS student can fill but there must be a final check by a registered Pharmacist...Thanks

The pharmicist is also on the telephone and looking at faxes.

It is important to always look at your at your medications before you leave the register....

I must also add, it is against HIPPA policy for the pharmacy team to share any of the counseling (showing pills, discussing prescriptions) with you if your name is not on the bottle, unless it is a minor. This can be overturned if your loved one signs a HIPPA waiver, allowing you access to all information..Once again ask your pharmacist :)

I am in England and it happened to us.I fetched my husbands high blood pressure tablets and when I got them home I noticed 1 of them was different.We thought that perhaps it was a generic.I still wasn't happy so I went back the next day and yes,they were the wrong ones.My husband feels he was lucky as he never checks them and probably wouldn't have noticed if he had.

The mistake might not even be from the pharmacist. My doctor has prescribed the same dose of one of my meds for over a year. The girl in the office called in a refill for me at half the dose. Since I take two a day, I did not even notice until I started running out -- sure enough the label said take one a day! If I had not already known what I was to take, I would have only been getting 1/2 my meds. As it was, I had to get a new rx and then they had to enter it as a dose change to get my insurance to pay early. Not a fatal mistake, but just shows errors happen. We do have to be careful!

just a bit of pharmaceutical levity!
 

:eek: That is hysterically funny!!!! Thanks! :sidesplt:

hospitals make mistakes too about giving meds,i had to go for a kidney infection and told them i was allergic to sulfa drugs and later they brought me some pills in a little cup to take before i went home,i trusted them since i had already told them of my allergies and i was lucky i took one there before i got home and took one that was percribed to me,it was a sulfa drug and i almost died. i colapsed in the waiting room at the hospital before i left and when i woke up there was like 10 ppl working on me. now before i take any thing i always make sure.

As a pharmacy technician of 10+ years and the daughter of a pharmacist and owner of an independent pharmacy, I think I can shed some light on this situation. In some states, and it may be that way in yours, it's law that the pharmacy fill the prescription with the lowest cost generic available. According to the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy News bulletin..."Kentucky law requires pharmacists to substitute and dispense US Food and Drug administration (FDA)-approved generic drugs when presented with a prescription for a brand name drug, unless otherwise instructed by the patient or his/her practitioner. Although a few exceptions to this regulation exist, it generally applies to the great majority of prescriptions for brand name drugs. Either the prescriber or patient may direct the pharmacist to forego the substitution regulation and dispense brand name medication.
The prescriber generally directs the pharmacist through a designation
written on the prescription such as ?do not substitute? or ?dispense
as written.? The patient generally does so by oral direction. The pharmacist is required to dispense brand medication when so directed." I highly suspect each and every state has something extremely similar. To avoid the frustration that you experience when changing pharmacies, call ahead to the pharmacy that you will be going to and let them know of your preference. This way, you won't have the frustration that you've had previously.

As for the pharmacy making mistakes, it really shouldn't happen. It does, but it shouldn't. Before a prescription leaves a pharmacy, no matter where it is filled, it should be verified by a licensed pharmacist for authenticity, completeness, and accuracy. Every pharmacy has liability insurance for instances that cause illness and/or death and do NOT want to have to use it, but it's there. If a pharmacy makes a mistake, it could mean that the pharmacy or pharmacist that is on duty will accumulate a violation or complaint against them with the State Board of Pharmacy. Enough of those and the Board will come and take their license to practice pharmacy away.

With generic medications, the color of a medication can change from month to month depending on which manufacturer the pharmacy has on hand at the time you get your prescription filled. More times than not, the pharmacy has one primary wholesaler that they order brand and generic medications from and numerous other secondary wholesalers that they'll get cheaper generic medications from. When the pharmacy orders their generic medications from their primary wholesaler, they're sent whatever manufacturer's product the primary wholesaler has in stock at the time the order was placed. The only difference in the different manufacturers are supposed to be the fillers that are used, not the active ingredients, so the pharmacy was correct in that it should have worked the same as the other manufacturer's product. However, some fillers do not work the same for every person. If you find that a particular manufacturer's product seems to work best for you, request that the pharmacy always dispense that manufacturer's generic product to you. They can stock that manufacturer's product just for you. They may not want to, but they can do it. As a long time employee of an independent pharmacy where customer service is our number one priority, we strive to keep our customers happy. If our customers want a certain manufacturer, that's what they get, even if it means we have to pay more for it and it cuts into our profit a bit. We have found that some of the chain stores (ie. Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, etc.) will not give up that profit for anything and will continue to dispense the cheapest generic medications no matter what adverse effects the customer/client complains of. We have heard it over and over again. There's just no excuse for it.