Caution - Read all Prescription Labels before Taking Your Meds

My God, how scared the family must have been. I'm glad she's ok.

You're right about checking prescription bottles. It would be a good
idea to go over it with the pharmicist (spelling?) when it's picked
up, even if it's a refill.

What I find scary is the fact that a doctors' handwriting is so bad. I
don't know how on earth anyone can read them.

It's a good idea to go over them with the doctor. Have him explain
everything and what the dosage should be.

Once again, I'm glad your daughter is ok.

this is chilling. Thank God your daughter is okay. I shudder to
think if she'd been a child or if the pill strength is based on weight
like some children's medications. They could have killed her. I know
some people will say it's the patient's duty to check their meds and
that's true, but the pharmacy should be held accountable for a
potentially fatal mistake. If they've made the mistake once, maybe
they've made it before. Maybe they'll make it again.

First, I am glad your daughter is okay. That is a very scary thing
that happened to her! I read the comments on doctorss handwriting and
am pleased to say that my doctor now prints all prescriptions off on
the computer and then signs them. Much easier to read and probably
1000% safer!

Yes, the pills were a different color. Unfortunately, she didn't
think much of it because sometimes (it's happened to me), the
manufacturer will switch color. I always call pharmacy when I see
something amiss, but she didn't. That's why I'm warning everyone to
be vigilant and not take anything for granted when taking any kind of
med.

Believe you me when I tell you that my daughter has learned a valuable
lesson. I don't think she will ever let her guard down again - for
her and her family too.

The fact that your daughter is okay now is the most important thing,
and having something good come out of it is equally important.

I wouldn't be surprised if when she was putting the bottle in the
medicine cabinet, she had a momentary flashback of the pills being a
different color, and that's what made her look at the dosage.

Thanks again for sharing this letter. If it convinces only one person
to check their prescription, it has served it's purpose.

As an EMT, I can echo your warning. We have too many patients who
don't even KNOW what they are taking, much less the dosage.

My Target pharmacy always shows me the bottle, then, some of the
product before I purchase it. I find this to be outstanding service.

I recently switched pharmacies. The pharmacist and the pharmacy tech
at the Walgreens where I had been getting my meds refused to let me
see the information on a new prescription until after I'd paid. When
I checked, I discovered a potentially lethal interaction with a med
I'd been taking for a long time (and had refilled at that Walgreens 4
days before). I was then ridiculed in front of other customers for
being such a weenie as to want to talk to my doctor before taking the
new drug. I then demanded my money back until I talked to the doctor
because if I had had a chance to find out about the interaction before
buying, I wouldn't have. They then attempted to double-bill my
insurance for the stuff. And finally they "rectified" the situation
by sending me a $10 Walgreens gift card to the correct address but the
wrong name, while reiterating that I was unreasonable for not wanting
to die because the pharmacist didn't bother to read the information on
the new drug that was attached to my prescription. I did eventually
(after discussing it with my doctor) buy the meds from Walgreens, and
switched all my prescriptions over to a different pharmacy.

I get quizzed on the possible interaction every time I go to the new
pharmacy. (Yes, I know what the risks are. Yes, my doctor and I
discussed it and decided that with vigilance (and immediate action if
a warning sign shows up) the anticipated risks outweigh the potential
costs.) And I'm a lot more comfortable. I still always check both
the inside and the outside of the new bottle. Accidents can happen,
and while I believe these people are very careful and my risk of
getting the wrong med is small, it's a risk with a potentially huge
consequence to me.

I agree that there's something wrong if Eckerd is refilling a
prescription and giving your daughter a different strength than she
had last month. There should be a system in place to prevent that,
and the minimum they should do in response to this letter is figure
out what went wrong so that it doesn't happen again. But systems
fail, and most of us are unlikely to be willing to pay a surcharge in
order to have someone providing more checks than are already there.
Meds are already too expensive for a lot of us. When it comes right
down to it, whether or not we should have to do this double-checking
ourselves, we do have to: before we leave the window, when we get
home, and every time we open a bottle to take a pill.

That is an incredibly frightful thing that you endured! Nobody should
have to go through what you went through and thank goodness she
noticed what she did in time. Thank you for bringing that to our
attention and I hope they are more careful in the future. Our
pharmacy here changes pharmacists too often and I can see with the
volume of people that go through there, that it's just a matter of
time before something happens. They have too many floating pharmacists
to cover. Very scary.

I applaud you for bringing this matter to everyones attention. I am
always amazed at the number of times that people DO NOT read the label
on the prescription. I have dealt with (more times than i am
comfortable with) people calling for a refill and when I ask why they
are 3 weeks early with the refill they will say something like (I have
been taking 2 per day), and I will say that the label says 1 per day,
they will either say, I wasn't feeling well so I took more, or I DID
not know the doctor made a change. The lesson here is that everyone
needs to pay attention--Medical Providers need to communicate with
their patients about their medications, what they are using them for
and ANY CHANGES IN THERAPY, including dosage and directions.
Pharmacies (if you use the same pharmacy all the time then this is
much easier to keep track of) should always flag a difference in
dosage to the patient, and counsel the patient on the new dosage, and
Patients need to take responsibility and not just blindly take the
medication.

When I say pay attention that is what I mean!! The pharmacy that I
work at we open every bottle and show the patient (or who ever is
picking up) the medication and we go over the directions with them. I
can not tell you (because it happens all the time) the number of
people that roll their eyes at us and say I have been on this for
years, or I know you do not need to go over it with me everytime, and
the one that IRKS me the most is people too busy to detach their cell
phone from their ear and actually listen to what we are telling them.

Unfortuantely mistakes happen alot (It is scary). Doctors are in a
hurry to move on to the next patient so they do not explain the
therapy to the patient (or the patient does not feel like they can
ask), the patient arrives at the pharmacy and pitches a fit because it
may take an hour (You know sometimes other people get there before
you), AND I have been personally cussed by patients when we do have a
question about a prescription and need to call the DR. to verify
something--they act like a 2 year old and say I do not have time to
wait here all day just give me my medicine the way it is written.

So thank you for bringing this issue to the forefront---PEOPLE

always talk to your doctor they are busy but do not let them run off
until you have all your questions answered and understand your therapy
fully.

Always look at your label and check it before you leave the
pharmacy--LISTEN to the person counseling you and ask any questions
that you may have.
The prescription can be pulled right then and there if something does
not seem right.

Pharmacies and Doctors are overworked and everyone wants it now. It
is easy to say check and double check, and that does happen, but if
the Doctor wrote the rx wrong and the pharmacy fills it as written,
then how do they know that it is a wrong dosage??

Please also have patience while at the pharmacy, give me a chance to
do my job correctly--do not rush us because you have to pick up Johnny
or Suzy from school, get off the phone and pay attention at the check
out window, and question anything that does not seem right!!

Sorry for the long response but I wanted to try and cover anything.
:0)

I hope that your daughter is okay!!

How horrible for you? One thing I would suggest though is having the
original prescription pulled to make sure it was an issue with the
pharmacy and not the way the doctor wrote it. Sometimes the doctor's
handwriting is so bad that errors occur. You are right though, it is
very important to check your prescription labels carefully.

Years ago, I was working in the Communications Dept of a large
hospital. My boss had shingles and dropped off her prescriptions at a
local pharmacy that most of the employees used. She picked up the
medication on her way to my office. She had been prescibed a
painkiller, Tylenol 3 and another medication, an anti-viral I think.
She was to take 6 of the anti-viral and 1 pain killer. She sat down
in my office and I watched as she pulled out 6 of the painkillers and
one other pill. I asked her what she was doing and she said taking my
medication according to directions. I said to her, I'm not so sure
your should be taking 6 Tylenol 3's. She looked at me like I was
crazy but I pointed to the pills in her hand and said those are
Tylenol 3's. It turned out the pharmacy switched labels and put the
wrong ones on each bottle. Luckily I knew what Tylenol 3 looked like.
This women was very sensitive to medication and I'm sure if she had
taken them, I would have ended up bringing her to the ER!

Another thing to be careful of if, if you are admitted to the hospital
and you take any kind of medication, make sure you verify you are
getting the right ones. I had a resident write down the wrong dosages
of two medications and, had I not questioned the nurse, I would have
taken them and had real problems. Since different manufacturers may
make the pills in different colors or shapes you cannot count of
knowing what you are taking.

How horrible.

Your daughter (not you) should immediately contact your state's
pharmacist licensing board to file a complaint. Unless the
prescription was written for 160mg, the pharmacy cannot substitute
without telling you.

She should also ask to speak to the head pharmacist at the store and
ask for an explanation.