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It goes without saying that there's never a good time to have a pharmacy screw up your medication. But a pregnant woman just became the victim of a colossal error. She went into her Colorado pharmacy for an antibiotic and ended up with an abortion drug instead.
Did you just cringe a little? OK, a lot? The story of Mareena Silva has been haunting me since I read about the Colorado mom-to-be who unwittingly took a medicine that could spell the end to her dream of being a mom. Taking medicine -- any medicine -- when you're pregnant is scary enough. Now we have to add this fear?
Methotrexate, the drug accidentally prescribed to Silva, can be used to end pregnancies. But by and large it's used for cancer patients. It's like a bazillion other drugs -- ever listen to the TV ads where they say "consult your doctor if you are pregnant or breastfeeding"? -- not recommended for pregnant women but entirely useful for women who aren't pregnant. So let's throw the abortion issue out here.
This isn't about abortion drugs. It's about pharmacies and the need to be that much more careful than your average business to get things right. Because pharmacists are the front lines of health care. A doctor writes a prescription, but a pharmacist actually puts a drug in a patient's hands.
And like Mareena Silva, most of us just open the bottle and chuck it back. We have no way of knowing whether that little pill in there is the right one for us. How would we? We're good at what we do in our jobs. We expect a pharmacist to be good at what he or she does.
It goes without saying that there's never a good time to have a pharmacy screw up your medication. But a pregnant woman just became the victim of a colossal error. She went into her Colorado pharmacy for an antibiotic and ended up with an abortion drug instead.
Did you just cringe a little? OK, a lot? The story of Mareena Silva has been haunting me since I read about the Colorado mom-to-be who unwittingly took a medicine that could spell the end to her dream of being a mom. Taking medicine -- any medicine -- when you're pregnant is scary enough. Now we have to add this fear?
Methotrexate, the drug accidentally prescribed to Silva, can be used to end pregnancies. But by and large it's used for cancer patients. It's like a bazillion other drugs -- ever listen to the TV ads where they say "consult your doctor if you are pregnant or breastfeeding"? -- not recommended for pregnant women but entirely useful for women who aren't pregnant. So let's throw the abortion issue out here.
This isn't about abortion drugs. It's about pharmacies and the need to be that much more careful than your average business to get things right. Because pharmacists are the front lines of health care. A doctor writes a prescription, but a pharmacist actually puts a drug in a patient's hands.
And like Mareena Silva, most of us just open the bottle and chuck it back. We have no way of knowing whether that little pill in there is the right one for us. How would we? We're good at what we do in our jobs. We expect a pharmacist to be good at what he or she does.
Pregnant Mom Got Abortion Drug in Pharmacy Screw Up | The Stir
How horrible....I hope this lady and her husband have a healthy child despite the mistake. Makes me wonder -- are pharmacies under some extra pressure lately? I know I see a whole lot more teenagers and young adults "helping" back there that I ever did before.
How could a patient protect themselves from this?
"I came back and I looked at the bottle and it wasn't my name," she said.
The methotrexate was intended for a 59-year-old woman with the exact same last name as Silva's and a similar first name.
Sometimes they have switched pill design (the makers of the pills) and once the pharmacist forgot to tell me. When I got home, it didnt look right, so I called him. He apologized and said yes, same pill same dosage, different design.
Familiarize yourself with what they look like, the color, shape, size and what is on the pill itself (number, code, name, etc).
There's nothing I take on a regular basis, so I have no way of knowing what the pills should look like. In the part of Cleveland where I live, as far as I know, there is no Ye Olde Pharmacy Shoppes. It's all Walgreens, CVS, etc. And they are all just as bad as the pharmacy at my grocery as far as hiring kids are concerned.
There's nothing I take on a regular basis, so I have no way of knowing what the pills should look like. In the part of Cleveland where I live, as far as I know, there is no Ye Olde Pharmacy Shoppes. It's all Walgreens, CVS, etc. And they are all just as bad as the pharmacy at my grocery as far as hiring kids are concerned.
Go to the CVS like we do. They are far superior to Walgreens.
We switched 4 years ago, and have never looked back.
the drug accidentally prescribed to Silva,
snip
the drug accidentally prescribed to Silva,
This this is NOT the pharmacists or pharmacies problem or mistake. They filled a prescription that was presented to them.
Did the doctor know she was pregnant? Did she TELL the pharmacy that she was pregnant and ask about the drugs?
I am sorry, personal responsibility has to kick in here somewhere.
snip
the drug accidentally prescribed to Silva,
This this is NOT the pharmacists or pharmacies problem or mistake. They filled a prescription that was presented to them.
Did the doctor know she was pregnant? Did she TELL the pharmacy that she was pregnant and ask about the drugs?
I am sorry, personal responsibility has to kick in here somewhere.
Actually, it was the mistake of whomever rang up the prescription.
Whoever it was handed the woman a prescription for another woman with a similar name.
snip
This this is NOT the pharmacists or pharmacies problem or mistake. They filled a prescription that was presented to them.
Did the doctor know she was pregnant? Did she TELL the pharmacy that she was pregnant and ask about the drugs?
I am sorry, personal responsibility has to kick in here somewhere.
Actually, it was the mistake of whomever rang up the prescription.
Whoever it was handed the woman a prescription for another woman with a similar name.
It doesn't say anything about that in the link. It says very clearly that the drug was prescribed to her.
"I came back and I looked at the bottle and it wasn't my name," she said.
The methotrexate was intended for a 59-year-old woman with the exact same last name as Silva's and a similar first name.
Actually, it was the mistake of whomever rang up the prescription.
Whoever it was handed the woman a prescription for another woman with a similar name.
It doesn't say anything about that in the link. It says very clearly that the drug was prescribed to her.
It's in this report about it.
Pharmacy mistakenly gives pregnant woman abortion pill
"I came back and I looked at the bottle and it wasn't my name," she said.
The methotrexate was intended for a 59-year-old woman with the exact same last name as Silva's and a similar first name.
It doesn't say anything about that in the link. It says very clearly that the drug was prescribed to her.
It's in this report about it.
Pharmacy mistakenly gives pregnant woman abortion pill
"I came back and I looked at the bottle and it wasn't my name," she said.
The methotrexate was intended for a 59-year-old woman with the exact same last name as Silva's and a similar first name.
Different link then the OP.
Then yes, the pharmacy is in the wrong. The first thing we learned when administrating drugs was:
Right patient
Right drug
Right does
Right route
They failed 3 of 4.
