Please Check Your Prescriptions!

**MadClikr** · 02/08/2011, 01:47 PM

I just heard about this on Fox, about how a pregnant woman went to a pharmacy for antibiotics, and they accidentally gave her a drug used for chemotherapy and abortions. Please, when you go to the pharmacy for a prescription, double check the label to make sure it is yours! My family has had a number of incidents with relatives all over the country being given the wrong medications at hospitals as well, so I fear that this problem may not be as rare as one might hope.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_819739.html

**Trudy in Illinois** · 02/08/2011, 03:55 PM

I saw that, too. If it were me, the guilty party would not ever be let off the hook. The baby would be taken care of all its life if there were any defect due to this. There would also be a nice amount of $$ paid. I'm sure the pharmacy is sweating putty balls, and they should.

**mspete** · 02/08/2011, 04:50 PM

When DH has been in the hospital (six times in 2003 and once in 2010), I stayed with him except for a period long enough to come home for a shower and change of clothes. When I came home our son stayed with him, he was never alone. Each time medication was brought to him I asked what is was and why it was being given. I kept a spiral notebook and pen handy and noted the time, the nurse's name, medication, dosage & reason. After a day or two I'm sure they described me as the "bitch with the notebook", but they did give me the information each time. Twice DH & I questioned the medication that was being given. It was one that he usually took at home and it did not appear to be the same medicine. It was in fact the same, however the dosage was different. When they took him to X-ray I asked why & what was being X-rayed. I never hesitate to ask the doctor, nurse or pharmacy about medication and when it is a very expensive medication, I count the pills. I always look at the receipt attached to the bag before I leave the pharmacy. I guess I have heard so many horror stories that I dare question, what, why, how much? If any of the providers are offended, so what! It is better to be safe than sorry!

**MadClikr** · 02/08/2011, 09:33 PM

"There are as many as 7,000 deaths annually in the United States from incorrect prescriptions, according to Carmen Catizone of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. He told The Washington Post that as many as 5 percent of the 3 billion prescriptions filled each year are incorrect."

**nedayja** · 02/08/2011, 10:02 PM

I also check my prescriptions before I leave the counter at the drugstore. One time I got home, opened the bottles and the pills did not look the same, so I called the pharmacist and he explained that it was from a different company and was really the same as before. I question them all the time.....they all know me by name now without me ever telling them who I am....I guess I am being called "the bitch with so many questions" by the drugstore staff....but I don't care.....an ounce of caution is worth a pound of cure!