Conference moira::parenting

If it's CVS, the address is:

	Harvey Rosenthal, President
	CVS Consumer Value Stores
	One CVS Drive
	Woonsocket, RI  02895

    FWIW, I got a prescription for Paul when he was 10 weeks old.  It was
    something for his bronchilitis.  In any case, after I had given him the
    medicine twice my friend noticed that some iky stuff was floating
    around in the bottle.  I was mortified!  I had no idea what it was but
    I knew that it was something foreign that should not have been in
    there.  I called the pharmacy and they said, "I don't know what it is,
    throw it out and come down and we'll have another for you, free of
    charge."  How nice, free of charge!  Like I would had paid for another. 
    I told my Pedi about it at his checkup and she said that things like
    this happen all the time and you should check contents for things
    floating and make sure with the Pharmacist that the instructions are
    right.  Afterall she said, we are all human.  Didn't cut in my case but
    I just sat on it and decided next time he had medicine that I would 1. 
    Go somewhere else and 2.  Check out everything before giving him
    anything!
    
    cj

I'm afraid that I don't agree that anything other than an apology is called
for.  If no harm was done, then I see no cause to seek further compensation.

Where did the error occur?  Was the doctor's handwriting hard to read?  Was
it a transcription error?   I don't see it as a big deal; 1/2tsp is about 1cc,
and it's difficult to measure such small amounts precisely anyway (much
less get it all out of the dropper.)

I would suggest doing nothing other than being thankful that a serious error
wasn't made and that there's no harm to your baby.  I would also suggest that
in the future you ask your pediatrician to explain in detail the correct
dosage so that you don't have to rely on the pharmacist interpreting the
doctor's scribbles.

					Steve

1 tsp is 5cc ... so this was 5 times the dose.

I've seen similar problems from the pharmacy used by Health Network here in
CXO ...  We had some Phenergan suppositories prescribed ... they were 
10 x the dose they were supposed to be.  Fortunately, I am wary of Phnergan
so we didn't use them as often as indicated (1 was enough!).

We didn't complain but kept the rest for the older kids for whom the dose
was fine.

I had a prescription that was requested as "No Substituion" that was
substituted with a generic and they swore it was written that way, until they 
pulled the physical prescription ... wooops ... sorry was the response.

Basically, you've got to do your own homework ... get the dosage from the Dr
and then confirm it with the pharmacist.

Stuart

    I agree.  Always make sure you understand the dosage, and always
    check to make sure you got what the doctor said you were going to
    get.  And once you find a pharmacist you like, stick with 'em.
    I've had the same pharmacist now for 10 years.
    
    I'd skip the letter.  It was an accident that could have been tragic,
    but your son wasn't harmed.  There was an article in the paper recently
    where pharmacists complained about doctors' scrawls.  Mistakes can
    happen.  But the doctor always goes over the medicine and the dosage 
    with you-- so *check*. 
    
    
    Pam

    In France the Pharmacists do not even write the dosage for you.
    They just give you the box (you also can not buy smaller amounts than
    what is boxed) . You are expected to look at the prescription and
    the doctors instructions for the doses.
    Carol 

I totally support discussing the medication - dosage, sideaffects with the
doctor when he writes the prescrition.

However, I would still report the incident.  Perhaps the mistake was not
harmful *this time*, but what happens if they screw up again?  If there is a 
pattern for carelessness, than let the authorities decide what to do.

We also had a prescprition directions wrong on the bottle.  They didn't match
what the doctor had explained to us.  we double checked with the doctor.

we also have a drug book so that we can look up *pictures* any new medicine.
Just because  it says one thing on the label, it doesn't mean it was filled
with it.  the book is so cheap.
ed

I think it's worthwhile to write a letter to the company headquarters
(which is why I happened to have CVS's address happy -- we've had some
bad experiences with them, and I'm planning to write a letter).  If I
were the president of a company, I'd want to know how often my employees
were screwing up.

I'm not sure how valuable it is to write to the authorities (maybe the
state public health department?), and I think it's useless to write to
the Better Business Bureau (whose concern is mostly fraud).

	I once was given a prescription for my son that was EXPIRED!!
	It was a tube of something, I think for conjuntivis, and the
	expiration date was a month previous.  I brought it back,
	they told me it didn't matter.  Yah, Right!  give me another
	tube, that isn't expired.   geez.

	/robin

I'm pretty sure the supplier gives them full credit if they return expired meds,
so it's surprising that they'd argue.

In case it is a problem with the pharmacist, I would report
it to the company.  Hopefully if it was an accident it would
be treated as such but if it was a reoccurance some action may
need to be taken.  Would hate to see someone injured due to
incompetence.

My mom was given a misdosage by a pharmacist and did have some
temporary problems due to the accident.

	This happed to me when my daughter was just 2 months old, I forget
	the details, but the wrong amount was on the bottle.  When I got
	home I thought, hmm I thought the doctor said a different amount.
	So I called the doctor and sure enough the pharmacy screwed up!
	I was very releived that I remembered what the doctor said because
	before this incident I usually didn't really pay attention to the
	doctor, thinking I'd have it written on the bottle from the pharmacy
	anyway.  Well, a few months later the pharmacy made another small
	mistake - but THAT WAS IT!  I got the pharmacists names (it happened
	to be 2 different pharmacists at the same place)  I wrote a letter
	to the better business bureau, didn't have the company's address
	at the time, but thanks to the person who posted it here.  I also
	changed pharmacies, now it's a little inconvenient, but I feel much
	safer.  And like most people have said in here, I now pay attention
	to what the doctor says, ask questions if something seems weird,
	and read the label while still in the pharmacy.

	Thank God no one was hurt, but I think I this area, we really need
	to be active about protecting ourselves and our family.

	Karen T.

    I think that people DO make mistakes, and it's part of your "job" as a
    patient/parent, to take some responsibility for treatment.  I remember
    when I was in the hospital when Jason was born.  I'm diabetic, and take
    2 shots of insulin, daily.  The nurse came in to give me my shot. 
    Then I was taking 4 (FOUR, as in one, two, three, four) units of
    regular insulin.  She came in with a syringe of 40 (FORTY, as in
    thirty-nine, forty, dead...) units of insulin.  She argued and argued
    and argued with me that I was wrong, and it WAS FOUR, on the syringe. 
    Aside from the fact that the number was   40  ....  It took a REALLY
    long time and another nurse and finally a Doctor before we finally
    found someone who would (also) read the 40 on the syringe as 40, and
    not 4.  Certainly one of the most frightening experiences in my life -
    4 is fine.  Probably 10 would've been okay.  40, and I'd have been a
    goner.  You remember Claus VanBulow(sp)??  
    
    So, yes, listen to the Dr, and even the Dr. makes mistakes - question
    them if it "seems" wrong.  And if the pharmacist fills something
    different than what the Dr. ordered, perhaps his dose is more correct
    than what the Dr wrote?  Don't assume the Dr's always right!  The last
    prescription I got for Jonathan, there was even ANY dosage on the
    prescription, and it was the pharmacist who had to say what the normal
    dosage was, confirmed the next day w/ his regular Dr, instead of the
    "fill in" who wrote the prescription.  It doesn't really matter who's
    right or wrong - you're the one who'll be affected!!
    

I had an experience with a pharmacy dispensing the wrong medicine. In this
case, it was just infant vitamins. I had a prescription for Tri-Vi-Flor and
they gave me Poly-Vi-Flor. It turns out that it would not have been a big deal
for my daughter to take either, but it was still scary to see how pharmacists
can slip up so easily. These vitamins come in their individual boxes, clearly
marked and they have different colors for each kind, yet I was given the wrong
one! 

It's scary to think that when you get the little white tablets that  the
pharmacists transfer into the orange pill containers, that you might possibly
have gotten the wrong thing 'cos the pharmacist  pulled the wrong big bottle
off the shelf! With those, there is no way to know that you had received the
wrong medication because you never see the original bottle label! I am at a loss
for how you can protect yourself and family against errors like this!

Another beef I have is this thing about the expiration date. Most of the
medication I've had in the past had expirations way out into the future, we're
talking at least 2  years out. The pharmacies usually print on the labels they
dispense, a date that it 1 year out from the dispense date. Well, the last 2 
times that I had the Tri-vi-Flor, I carefully peeled away the label 
they(pharmacy) stuck on the bottled and it revealed an expiration date that 
was sooner than the date on the pharmacy label!

I have also made it a point to go over with doctors, what medication they are
prescribing and what dosage I am suppose to take/or give.

-joanne

Joanne,
"              -< How do we protect against erroneous dispensing? >- "

As I indicated in an earilier reply, there are 'pill books'  usually cost less
than $10.   they have a picutre of the pill and its markings.
and the typical commentaries on the medication.
We never take a med without checking.

btw, CVS sells them off the prescription counter.
ed

    and question your doctor and pharmacist.  Some ofthe names of
    medications are remarkably similar, and knowing what the meds are for
    and the potential side effect, as well as the dosage will help you to
    protect you and yours.  If you get a bottle with a list of instructions
    foriegn to what the Dr. described, it is time to question the
    pharmacist right then and there.  If your Dr. appears to be too busy to
    discuss medication with you, I would strongly consider looking for
    another health care provider.
    
    meg

    I always make sure I know the medication and the dosage that the doctor
    is prescribing, and I check the prescription bottle and the meds
    against what I heard the doctor say.  My husband once got medication
    for allergies and the instructions on the bottle said 'take for
    anxiety' so we called the pharmacy to see what was going on. Seems they
    read the instructions wrong, but the meds were correct.
    
    My mom and grandmother have had the wrong dosage of heart medication
    given to them by the pharmacist.  Mistakes happen, so you need to check
    that what's in the bottle matches what's supposed to be there.  I
    always call the pharmacist and/or the doctor if I have a question.
    
    Cathy

To be fair, the pharmacist can also be helpful in correcting doctors' errors. 
We had a prescription filled at CVS (I don't remember what for) and the
pharmacist pointed out that the dosage written by the doctor wasn't `the usual
doasage'.  He phoned the doctor and, sure enough, the doctor had made a mistake.

Tom
(perhaps_somewhat_biased_because_my_father-in-law_is_a_CVS_pharmacist,though_
 not_the_one_mentioned_above)

    Some CVS pharmacists seem more competent than others.  There are 2 CVS
    pharmacies in Salem, MA, the Highland Plaza store has a very good 
    pharmacist who we have never had any problems with.  The Crosby Plaza
    store has had some problems with incorrect medication, dosage, etc.
    It seems like the individual pharmacist professionals themselves can
    make a big difference.  I think parents definitely need to be aware
    of exactly what medication and dosage is being administered, along with
    being aware of expected results and potential side-effects.  Most of
    this information should come from the pediatrician, but a good
    pharmacist can help here also.
    

One thing the good doctors and pharmacists do is talk to you
directly about the dosage.  As in, the doctor tells you verbally
what the dosage is.  You pick up the prescription, and read the
dosage label.  The pharmacist also tells you verbally what the
dosage is.

All three of these should agree.  If not, then double check and
question until it's clear.  And if the doctor and pharmacists do
not verbally discuss it with you, ask.

Pat

    Contact the local Food and Drug Administration and request information
    on who to report the incident to.