New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Law Offices of Scott D. Grossman : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

"American Bandstand" or your local dentist's office? FoxNews.com reported a lawsuit filed last month by a Syracuse, New York woman against her dentist who allegedly punctured her sinus cavity during a tooth extraction. The lawsuit claims the Dentist, Dr. George Trusty, was dancing to the 70's hit "Car Wash" while using a drill on the woman's molar.

Ms. Brandy Fanning, 31, of Syracuse, New York, said that as a result of the injuries she sustained by the dentist's actions, she had to undergo emergency surgery. According to court papers, Ms. Fanning is seeking $600,000 for her medical expenses, pain and suffering in the lawsuit she filed against Dr. Trusty in U.S. District Court in Syracuse last month.

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When I read this story, I was horrified by what happened to a newly pregnant St. Louis woman who went to Walgreens to fill a prescription for prenatal vitamins and was instead given a potent chemotherapy drug that killed her unborn child. The woman and her husband filed a lawsuit seeking some form of justice against the powerful pharmacy chain, alleging that Walgreens failed to properly supervise pharmacy personnel who dispensed the medicine, failed to verify the prescription with her physician, and failed to follow appropriate protocol.

The couple alleges in their complaint that she began to feel ill and began vomiting about a month into her pregnancy and assumed it was morning sickness, all the while taking what she thought were the prenatal vitamins.  About a month later, she miscarried her baby. It is alleged that her unborn child was killed due to the ingesting of the potent chemotherapy drug.  After her miscarriage, she continued to take the chemotherapy drugs (still thinking they were prenatal vitamins) because she believed that the vitamins would prepare her for a subsequent pregnancy. It wasn't until she telephoned Walgreens for a refill that the pharmacist realized the mistake.  Please read the full article.  I implore you to write in about your own personal stories pertaining to pharmacy mistakes and errors and your opinions about what has happened to this couple.

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Late last week, a friend of mine called the office to tell me about a co-worker who fell victim to the ever-increasing incidence of pharmacy error. The co-worker, let’s call her “Janet,” hadn’t been feeling well and visited her physician, who diagnosed a common infection and prescribed a course of antibiotics. Janet filled the prescription at her local chain pharmacy located in Western Monmouth County. Within a day or two after starting the medication, Janet was feeling increasingly sicker, and at one point, thought she was having a stroke, as one side of her body lost all sensation. Janet’s husband rushed her to the emergency room; at first, the ER doctors thought she was suffering from a rare allergic reaction to the antibiotic, but soon learned that the pharmacy filled the prescription with the incorrect dosage, double the dosage originally prescribed by the doctor!

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I'm feeling particularly cranky today. In my continuing tirade against the auto insurance industry's apparent war against its insureds, I want to once again address the way in which, you, the consumer, with the good driving record, who has dutifully paid premiums on time, is getting the shaft by your insurer. God help us all if we need our auto insurance to pay our medical bills after a motor vehicle accident.

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Last week, the Florida based supermarket chain Publix Super Markets announced the launch of its free prescription drug program at its 684 Publix Pharmacies for seven well-known antibiotics.
Customers will only have to provide their prescription and they can get up to a two week supply, filled at no charge, regardless of prescription insurance provider. Bravo Publix!

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A recent post on The Blotter, an ABC News Blog, reported yet another incident of pharmacy negligence in the wake of the report on "20/20" last month. This time, a seven year old  Modesto, California boy was given an adult high blood pressure medication by a Walgreen's pharmacy, instead of the medication he needed for a mental health condition. The boy ended up in the hospital and the boy's mother was urged to report the incident. Not knowing where to turn, she called ABC News. The drug the boy was given, Toprol XL, is usually administered to adults with high blood pressure. The drug the boy was supposed to take was Tegretol-XR.  Both drugs sound very similar and are apparently often confused, to the point that in 2005, the FDA issued a warning about the potential for confusing these two medications. In the case of the seven year old, Walgreen's released a statement to ABC News, whereby it shifted some of the blame to the boy's doctor for hand writing the prescription which was ultimately misread by the pharmacy.

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Citizens of New Jersey, would it shock you to learn that in response to concerns about a dangerous increase in pharmacy-related prescription errors, your state legislature has introduced a bill, which if enacted into law, would preclude all forms of recourse should your pharmacist’s mistake cause you or your loved ones to suffer serious physical injuries.Well it’s hard to believe, but amazingly true: pharmacists would receive total immunity from civil liability for any errors committed resulting in serious harm as long as the error was reported to the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy. Even more astonishing is the likely effect the legislation will have on the large national and regional pharmacy chains- complete insulation from liability for the negligent acts of their pharmacist employees.

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Tonight's 20/20 program (see "Tragic Mistakes") sheds light on what can only be called a silent epidemic of the occurrence of pharmacy errors across the nation. The segment featured the tragic story of a young mother who gave her four-month old daughter who was born prematurely what she thought was an anti-seizure medication. What she actually gave the infant was an adult dose of a diabetes medication, which left her daughter permanently disabled, unable to talk, walk or feed herself. Walgreen's, the national pharmacy chain, was responsible for the dispensing error, this act of negligence that caused irreparable harm.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last week that it intends to implement a tougher  approach when considering potential conflicts of interest for its advisory committee members and for recommending eligibility for meeting participation. Doctors who receive more than $50,000 from a company or a competitor whose product is being discussed would no longer be allowed to serve on the committees.

The new rules are important, as these doctors, powerful advisers who receive payments from drug companies, have enormous influence over ultimately what drugs are approved, and this has shown to be a potentially dangerous situation for the public, while making drug companies millions of dollars.

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Let's say you go to your internist this past winter complaining of a sinus infection. Your trusted doctor prescribes you a brand new antibiotic, not the usual one you've tolerated well and taken in the past. Why did he prescribe this new drug as opposed to the old standby? Is it because your doctor believes this new drug is the state of the art in fighting sinus infections... or is something else motivating him?

The pharmaceutical industry's influence on doctors' prescribing practices looms largely in the background in today's medical practice. It's more than lunches or free pens from the perky sales rep dispensing free samples with the office manager. Way more.

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