Pharmacy Labeling Error Resulted in Mother Giving Wrong Medication to Baby
More than 3.8 billion prescriptions are filled each year, and in very rare instances a pharmacy error or mistake could create a dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation. The Spokesman-Review recently profiled the story of a baby from Spokane, Washington, whose mother gave her the wrong medication due to a pharmacy labeling error.
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According to the article, Walgreens pharmacy in North Spokane provided Courtney Lindberg with the wrong medication for her seriously ill infant. The baby was prescribed a diuretic called Lasix as a temporary solution to help the baby breath easier and feed until heart surgery could be completed. While the prescription was labeled as Lasix, the bottle actually contained the heart medication digoxin.
Luckily the mother noticed the problem before any permanent harm was done, as she noticed that the medication was not working and that it was a different color than prior prescriptions.
As described in the Spokesman-Review:
Lindberg grabbed the bottle and read the label. Then she looked more closely: The label was affixed to a bottle containing the wrong medicine.
“It floored me,” she said. “Walgreens gave me the wrong medicine, and I had been giving it to my baby all day.”
Walgreens says the case is a rare error, and the baby’s Spokane cardiologist said no permanent harm was done – although it could have been if Lindberg hadn’t caught on so quickly.
Lindberg said she isn’t looking for money and isn’t even interested in an apology. She wants her story told as a cautionary tale.
“What I want is for them to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she said.
“I know that no one did this on purpose,” she added. “But it’s scary, and I would hope that everyone double-checks their prescriptions.”
Walgreens indicates that they have spent over $1 billion over the past decade on programs designed to avoid these types of inexcusable and careless human errors. They are the largest pharmacy chain in the United States, filling over 16% of the prescriptions throughout the country last year.
According to a 2006 report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, over 1.5 million people are injured or killed every year in the United States by a medication error or pharmacy mistake. The problems can be caused by a pharmacy filling the wrong drug, a physician prescribing the medication inaccurately or nurses giving individuals someone else’s medication.
PHARMACY MALPRACTICE LAWYERS
The medical malpractice lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk investigate potential cases for pharmacy errors and medication mistakes throughout the United States. If you, a friend or family member have been seriously injured or killed as a result of carelessness or negligence, request a free consultation and claim evaluation.
8 Comments • Add Your Comments
Robin says:
Walgreens has made 2 medication errors in less than 5 months in the case of my infant daughter. In the first error she was prescribed Bactrim for a urinary tract infection when she was 4 weeks old. I found out a month later that babies less than 2 months old should not receive Bactrim because it may cause brain damage in young infants. She now is on Bactrim daily to prevent urinary tract infections because she has urinary reflux. Last week I picked up her prescription and when I got home I noticed that it didn’t look right – it was mostly clear with a few small flecks of white in the bottom. I took it back the next day and was told that who ever poured it didn’t shake the bottle. Those little flecks that I saw in the bottle where the active ingedient, the rest was dilutant – which would have been useless in preventing infection. Had she gotten an infection because of the reflux it could damage her kidneys easily. The new bottle that I was given settles out to be half white and half clear, but I wonder if that is even the right dose because I am sure it came out of the same bottle that the first bottle came from (that was virtually all dilutant), if so this medication would be to strong.
Posted on September 19, 2009 at 3:49 am
LINDA says:
Share information you wish to be published on this page…I WORK IN A PHARMACY AT WALGREENS IN A DURHAM , NORTH CAROLINA STORE. I WAS TOLD NOT TO RECOMMEND THAT CUSTOMERS DOUBLE CHECK THEIR PRESCRIPTIONS BEFORE THEY LEAVE THE PHARMACY.
Posted on December 1, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Melinda says:
i dropped off some prescriptions at Walgreens for me and my husband. We had just came from the doc’s office, she sent some electronically and gave us a paper perscription for my husband. When i picked up our meds we started taking the medicine, i had been sick with a flu like virus so my hubby was distributing my med to me. After a week had went by and i hadn’t had a bowel movement, i had related it to my daily pain medicine but i also took a stool softener so i didn’t understand why i could not pass stool. After closer examination of my meds i see that i was taking a drug that i didn’t recognize. After investigating the med i didn’t recognize, it wasn’t even prescribed to me. It was a drug for diahreah and had some pain med in it. The bottle has my name on the bottle and the correct name of the drug but my doc didn’t prescribe it to me. It was mixed up with the name William Johnson so i had to suffer as a result of Walgreens neglegence. What if it was a heart or blood pressure med? I could be dead or severly sick
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 7:53 pm
karla says:
,Hi, the same thing to me I went to doctors for depression and anixtey then found out my blood pressure was really high so the dr gave the pharmcy of perscription for high blood prssure and other meds, so I pick it up started taking the meds and I’m thinking this is supposed to help me but I was feeling worse at work I was feeling dizzy,lightheaded,faiting felt like I was gonna die had to sit down at one point , felt real tierd kept complaing started getting even more depressed because I kept to myself what’s wrong with me but I still kept working cause I’m a hardworker need money,and dedicated then I would go home and knock out……had my grandma pick up my children cause I felt soo tierd and picked up my daughter late 4 times……so after two weeks of feeling this way I finally went for a follow up and my dr asks me if I’m taking the meds she gave to me then I started telling how I was feeling and she found it weird so she stared naming the meds and I told her that one of them wasn’t right so I gave her the bottle and it belonged to another man and it was phenobarbital which is for seizures and I was taking 4 a day …….so of course that explaned evrything that I expirenced…..then my doc tells me I just can’t get off them I could have a seizure or die so I had to detox off them slowley and on top of that coulnt take my blood pressure meds,I felt massive headaches,irratable,dizzy at times , so lost more depressed,couldn’t take care of my kids because I felt sooo tierd and more anxiuos and took time out of work cause I wasn’t gonna force myself this time like I did those two weeks I’m so mad at myself for that of course people are gonna say you didn’t notice the name no I didn’t all three medications were in one bag with the labels on the bag , I’ve been going there for yrs and I get along so well with the tecs they were not suposed to put all the meds in one bag…..but know I know I have to be more careful and check everything……this was walgreens by the way
Posted on December 4, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Dominique says:
Today I get my medicine from Walgreens and come to find out they filled a percrip. from a whole year in a half ago. How could this mistake happen? Instead of them giving me the correct medicine they fill a prescip. for a tottaly different diagnosis that I had over a year ago (that I did recieve ). Not really sure what my next step should be but I can’t just let this slide.
Posted on June 1, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Chris says:
I went to refill my blood pressure meds at Bartell drugs. When I got home I took out a pill and almost swallowed it before noticing that it was methadone for a different person. I was floored since the girl at the Bartells had try to give me someones presciption other than mine. I noticed because it looked so different. I went back to Bartells and asked for the manager and told her what happened. She took me to the phamacist manager and he brought up the girl who gave me the methadone and she again gave me someone elses meds. I let her know they we not mine again. she finally found my blood pressure meds and the manager told her she needs to be more carefull.
Posted on September 3, 2014 at 9:39 pm
Joann says:
I have been shorted my pills and have just see my meds labels mixed up I have pictures and proof
Posted on July 27, 2016 at 5:59 pm
Manda says:
I picked up a prescription at Walgreens for a medication that I have had refilled there for years. But this time, after taking it for a couple of weeks, I noticed that there were two different types of pills in the container. It has my name and my right medicine on the label, but mixed in with my migraine med is Sulfasalazine 500 MG (I looked up the pill by the imprint on it).
So, first off I have a sulfa allergy and the pill is late stage urinal failure!
However I didn’t make the discovery until I was having lower abdominal pain and vomiting for four days so bad that it landed me in the ER. And after a dye contrast CT and a pelvic Ultrasound/X, plus labs, they could not find out the mystery behind my pain.
Then I read the full side effects of the pill in my bottle, and they matched!
I don’t know what to do at this point, but I don’t think Walgreens should not be held accountable. What if there is a next time, and someone dies. I’m a mother of two, can Walgreens explain to my kids if I had died.
Posted on September 14, 2016 at 7:00 pm