New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

There was an article on USAToday.com which excerpted an interview with a young pharmacist (who incidentally is now enrolled in law school), about pharmacy errors. It was a pretty interesting article, as it gave another view as to who is ultimately responsible for prescriptions that are filled and dispensed to the drug-consuming public. The pharmacist, Eli Phillips, Jr., a second generation pharmacist (his dad is a pharmacist too), was quoted as saying "Ultimately, the pharmacist is responsible for every prescription that leaves, whether it is correct or incorrect. It's all on the pharmacist. The technicians are there only as a means of support."

His candor is refreshing and quite the contrary to the usual rhetoric the public is fed about why misfills occur. There is a lot of blame shifting, on to the public, to the doctor's messy handwriting, to the way the pharmacy itself is laid out, to the issue of whether there is a drive-thru at a given location, to corporate policies and overworked pharmacists. I agree with Mr. Philips' conclusion, that despite all of those other distractions, there is no one else to blame for a medication dispensing error of any magnitude than the pharmacist him or herself. There must be accountability, and if pharmacists believe that their working conditions are causally related to the incidence of prescription errors and misfills, then they need to rise up and do something to change the status quo. The American public can only do so much to protect itself here; there must be a way to restore our faith in the American pharmacist. A little honesty, a la Mr. Philips is a good start. 

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A report out of Columbus, Georgia late last week revealed that a woman went to her local CVS Pharmacy to fill a Vicadin prescription for her son who sprained his ankle. The prescription was for twenty pills, but the pharmacist put 90 pills in the bottle. Horrified, and afraid of what could happen if someone got his hands on these excess pills, she called the pharmacy to report it. At that time she was told to either bring them back or throw them out, and when she told the pharmacist that she might not be able to get back to the store that night, she was told to, “Do what you want with them. Keep them. It doesn’t matter.” This did not sit well with the worried mother who then contacted the Georgia Narcotics Agency, who advised that she return the excess pills to the CVS, and when she went to do just that, the pharmacist refused to take them back. What an incredulous error in light of the fact pain killer prescriptions are to be checked by three different pharmacy staffers, including the pharmacist.

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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! After a few days in the hospital, the drug was flushed out of her system and thankfully Janet was discharged from the hospital and did not suffer any permanent damage. My friend suggested she call me to talk about her experience, something she was not comfortable doing. I respect that, as I am sure she wants to leave the experience in the past, but I cannot stress enough the importance of reporting these types of errors. Pharmacy errors happen all the time, and while many of them do not result in permanent injury, plenty of them can and do. I believe that there is great value to you, the prescription-consuming public, to report every occurrence of pharmacy error and invite anyone who has experienced pharmacy error, whether it be a dosage error, a dispensing error, or an error in how to take a medication, to write me (anonymously is okay) here at the blog and share your story. (You can, of course, call me for a free, confidential consultation, as well). There is power in information and power in numbers. The more anecdotal evidence we can compile about this often swept-under-the-rug threat to public safety, the more ammunition we will have to demand more accountability, and obtain better more effective safeguards and protections.

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