Pharmacy Mistakes....

[martyusa]

My ex-wife is a Pharmacist for a local company. I used to hear all kinds of horror stories about mistakes from techs filling the wrong doses or wrong drugs. Even though the label is correct, what's inside is wrong.

Now, my wifes medical system has made all kinds of cutbacks and are forcing the remaining staff to pick up the stack. It's rush rush rush, and we all know what happens when things get rushed in the medical field.

On 2 separate occasions I have had my BP medication filled from the hospital pharmacy. 50mgs of Toprol XL turned out to be 100mgs of Tolprol XL. Their answer to the first mistake was to break them in half. The second time it happened, Sonya went ape shit on their ass. Then when my Neurontin was refilled, they gave me a 90 day supply instead of a 30 day supply. I'm good with that. I was taking 3 100mg tabs before bed. So the pharmacy took it upon themselves to give me 300mg tabs instead of the 100mg tabs. I blame myself for this one because I didn't check the tab. So out of habit I was taking 3 tabs. I went from 300mgs to 900 mgs without knowing it, until it was time to get the refill.

Sonya called my surgeons office for a refill on my Valium. They moved me from 2mgs to 5 mgs. So, the PA calls it in. Sonya gets home and I take one and in about 30 minutes, I'm out like a light. That night I take another one. Well right after I take it, I wonder why these are blue when my last ones were Orange. So I look at the pill it's got some numbers on one side and it says "10" on the other side. So I look it up and sure as heck they have given me 10mgs instead of 5mgs. Now, I have already taken all my BP meds, pain meds and sleep meds and now I have 10mgs of valium instead of 5. Not only was my wife upset, but scarred to death. She made sure she woke me up every couple of hours just to make sure I was OK.

We call the Pharmacy. They say oops and they'll handle it. I am only 1 patient. I wonder how many times this happens not just in that Pharmacy but in Pharmacies throughout. The attitude is what has be baffled. Now granted, I can snap these in half. But that not the point. How many times to they have to mess up before someone dies or serious damage is done?

This is crazy........