I'm happy to see that there's nothing in the news that makes me sit up and say "WOW~ I've gotta write about THIS!" Instead, I get to write about something that interests me more.
Double check your prescriptions. I'll tell you why.
A friend of mine (let's call her Sandy Beach) had an ailing father who suffered from a variety of ailments. Let's call him Salty. One of the problems Salty had was diabetes. Because Sandy was the one who was his legal guardian (she's my age but her father had her late in his life) Sandy was in charge of all his medical needs.
One day Sandy dropped off a prescription for Salty's diabetes. She picked it up, brought it to her father, and he took the meds. A couple hours later he was in convulsions. She called 911 and an ambulance hauled him away. A couple hours after that, he was in a coma. Miraculously, he survived (although he was never the same).
While the doctors were trying to decide what happened to Salty, they did the usual tests and found ...to their surprise... that Salty was taking exactly the opposite of what he should've been taking.
When they looked at his newest prescription bottle, they found that the pharmacy had dispensed not just any mistaken medication, but the medication that would've been the worst for Salty to ingest. May I add that this is a major, national chain of pharmacies that supposedly doesn't make mistakes.
What happened?
It turned out that Salty had the same name as another individual that was actually on that medication. And, the pharmacy mistook Salty for him.
The case never made it to court, because the pharmacy was eager to keep it quiet. When it was all over, Sandy was quite a bit richer for their mistake, and Salty got to spend his final days in relative comfort. However, it definately was the situation which pushed him closer to death's door.
So, the moral of the story is: Double Check Your Prescriptions.
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11 comments:
What a shame. Remember, even in if you are in the hospital to double check your meds before you take them. Before the nurse puts a new med that is thru an IV ask that she read the med she is giving you. Everyone is human, everyone makes mistakes. Is this a mistake?
My son and I take the same asthma med. The difference is he is 5 and I am...not 5. I check every single pill we take. His has a symbol and a number, mine has a symbol.
Sandy Beach?
I love it.
Saur, I started doing that a few years ago. The pharmacy I was using had messed up counts, put the wrong dosages in etc. The last straw was when they substituted a anti-psychotic for one of my cholesterol meds. I questioned the different appearance of the pill and they corrected the problem. The pharmacist responsible called and apologized effusively explaining how her son was a victim of mismedication. She assured me that mistakes like that just do not happen. 2 months later I was once again given the wrong dosage to one of my meds (that one could have killed me). I unloaded on the head pharmacist, he assured me that there error rate was approaching 6 sigma. I proceeded to ask how was I so unlucky to catch ALL of their theoretical mistakes? I moved to another pharmacy that same day and have not had a problem since.
I suspect that this particular pharmacy is a victim of its own success. Its systems and even its internal size was never intended to handle the volume of business it does. Greed sometimes moves folks beyond good sense and into risk taking where they should not.
Pharamacys can not afford mistakes, people die.
Okay, let's see:
Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout. Check.
Sour mash bourbon. Check.
Absolut. Check.
Pinot Noir, Burgundy, Chardonnay. Check.
Looks fine. Thanks, Saur.
Yikes. Yeah, definitely a good idea to look twice. That is a real shame about her father.
TYRONE BIGGUMS! :)
Hoo Boy. Scary.
Saur, very scary stuff. You just can't be too careful.
On another note, aren't you going in tomorrow for a test regarding your neck and possible surgery? If so, good luck. I hope you find the answer to your pain.
Saur,
Excellent post as always. You really hit the nail on the head here.
Thanks.
Yikes!
Thank God I don't have to take any prescriptions and my parents aren't on any either!
Oh, by the way, I got my side business up and running today - it is www.blogjacket.com
Let the neocons get their way, and the big pharmacy would see limited liability laws passed in their favor!
You know that in the neocon view, this "accident" was not that bad, as the man did not die. Some liberal trial lawyer just wanted to sue a successful business because liberals hate America.
Cases like this are EXACTLY the reason why I am opposed to limited liability laws. The only safety stop consumers have against companies is the courts. Companies would love to see that end. They could make more money, and if people were hurt or killed in the process oh well! Too bad! So sad!
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