A woman who suffered a miscarriage after taking chemo drugs that were supposed to be prenatal vitamins is suing Walgreens, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Chanda Givens was given a presription for Materna, a prenatal vitamin, but her local Walgreens pharmacist gave her Matulane, a drug used to treat advanced Hodgkin’s disease. The complaint says that drug ” is designed to interfere with the growth of cells by blocking their ability to split and reproduce.”
Walgreens had no comment.
Suit: Chemo drug led to miscarriage [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo:Ben Popken)
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What this whole situation underscores is a larger problem with the health care system in general. The number of people seeking health care is increasing exponentially. And yet, doctors and pharmacists are extremely slow to adapt to their changing roles in the system.
We fill an average of 450 prescriptions a day at my pharmacy. We are open 14 hours a day, so that amounts to approximately one prescription every two minutes for fourteen solid hours. And yet, our method of operations is still the same as it is if we were filling 100 prescriptions a day. We are fraught with inefficiencies and antiquated ways of doing things. And yet, any attempts to change are shot down. Why? Because old habits die hard.
Our role as the pharmacy is to be the final stopgap between the patient and their medicine. It is our job to insure that no mistakes are made. No excuses. And no mistakes. With increased pressure from corporate to decrease spending, laws restricting the number of workers in a pharmacy, and the increased workload caused from the dramatic increase in prescriptions being filled, it’s no wonder that pharmacists everywhere are cutting corners.
The reason nothing is done about it is because change is expensive, and right now, the current pharmacy business model is working well. They can squeeze 450+ prescriptions out of four workers (two on weekends). Not to sound cliche, but, things aren’t going to change until their bottom line is affected.
I don’t know the business side of doctors’ offices, by any stretch of the imagination. But I do know that doctors are pressured to see as many patients as possible in a short amount of time. I do know that we still receive huge numbers of prescriptions on the venerable prescription pad, rather than the far superior computerized prescription. To what extent that change is realistic, I don’t know. But I do know that there is room for improvement on the medical side of things.
What it all boils down to is, we’re in the classic decline dilemma. We are resistant to change at a time when we should be most open to it.
Even I have to admit, we certainly need more information on this. Were the label correct or incorrect? Were the pills just the wrong ones? I still say she’ll probably get a huge settlement, seeing as a miscarriage is involved.
One thing that CVS has started doing is the labels now include a physical description of the pill. For instance, one I just took says “This is a WHITE, ROUND-shaped, TABLET imprinted with LOGO 70 on the front and Z on the back.” Since it’s a generic, I frequently get a different one each time I refill, so that’s really helpful. Unfortunately, my pharmacy plan prefers I use Medco, and they don’t do this, so I have to look up the identifying markers every time.
@trillium: Whenever I switch from a generic to a namebrand or vice versa, or get a new drug, I make sure to read the little insert that comes with the meds. Target ALSO puts little descriptions on the pages. If a drug changes all of a sudden, that is a red flag, and I check to see if everything is kosher. As for new meds, I always verify the description, and read the insert to make sure. I also always ask the pharm if it will interact even if the comp does it automatically.
My one pharmacy used to spit out other items I might like to pick up for side effects. My Wellbutrin info always recommended laxatives, but luckily I never needed them.
I hate to say this, but you should LOOK at what you shovel into your mouth before the shoveling. At every step, a HUMAN was involved. As humans, we all error. While not all the victims fault, she does share SOME blame, no matter what the outcome was. By that I mean that if the effect was just the runs, it does not elicit the same response as a miscarriage, even though they were the result of the same mistake.
One aspect of this tragedy that no one has mentioned is the absurdity of mere vitamins being prescription drugs. “Maternity” vitamins are just vitamins, after all. They’re innocuous and should be shelved with all the other vitamins that can be purchased over the counter. The reason why they aren’t is that insurers won’t pay for them unless they are sold as a prescription, and consumers would naturally rather buy a covered item than one they have to pay full price for. It’s just another example of how our healthcare system is broken.
Pharmacists are highly educated and highly paid for a reason. ANY pharmacist would tell you that they would know how serious it would be to accidentally give ANYONE Matulane. If there was even the slightest question it should have been checked with the doctor or at least the patient. As much fun as it is to hate Walmart, this is the fault of the pharmacist in my opinion.
You know when you get your prescription filled, they have you sign a form? Well, they are supposed to explain the drugs to you before you sign that. That form explains how you take the drug, what to take it with, the major side-effects, etc. You sign it to acknowledge that they’ve talked to you.
The problem is, a lot of the time, they don’t explain anything, & just say “sign here”.
Sometimes, they’ve made a mistake somewhere along the line that will be caught when the pharmacist says “You need to take these 3x a day as an anti-tumor treatment” and you say “But I don’t have cancer, I’m pregnant”.
But sometimes they don’t take the time, and just insist that you sign the form, which they aren’t supposed to do, but they do anyway. Because they are busy or shorthanded or whatever.
And sometimes, sadly, tragically, people die as a result.
Choose your pharmacy as though your life depended on it.
It really may someday.
@Draconianspark: I guess you also double check your brake fluid after an oil change,
Go through maintenance logs of the airplane you are about to fly in,
Run a background check on everyone from your mailman to your pizza delivery guy,
Check the cereal for sharp objects,
etc,
etc
I do this its a good practice to double check the meds before taking them but come on…
While it’s obvious that someone in the pharmacy made a mistake, it hardly shocks me. Always check and double check any medicines you take regardless of who gives them to you. Thanks to a series of medical problems, I’ve been given the wrong medicines by nurses in a hospital, aides in a nursing home, and pharmacists. All multiple times. Fortunately I’ve always either caught the mistake or someone looking after me caught the mistake, but it’s terrifying. Get your hands on a PDR and use it.
This was an absolutely horrible thing to happen, and my heart goes out to the family.
I worry about the broader implications of the court case. If she wins some incredibly large monetary award for this, what will the repercussions be? Will it be the case that every prescription filled will require a call-back to the physician? Will there be some further verification that has to be in place?
And what happens if that’s the case?
I’m currently a medical resident, and one of the major concerns I hear from all of my colleagues is how “all this paperwork” is getting in the way of our treating patients in a timely and effective manner. Physicians are concerned as hell about liability and at the same time are trying to be conscious of not practicing overly defensive medicine.
This was a horrible, horrible thing to happen to anyone. Of that there’s no question. I guess I just fear the backlash that will come from it as well. It could mean another form you fill in the doctor’s office, another form your doctor will have to fill out stating that they explained all of these extra warnings to you, and another delay as you wait for the person ahead of you at the doc’s office and at the pharmacy while they fill out all those forms too.
It was a rare event. I just expect that once the suit goes through, healthcare’s kneejerk response will be to try to guard against these rare events as if they happened every day, and make things worse for everyone.
I work in a pharmacy as a pharmacy tech and this situation is certainly terrible. I really hope the woman gets adequate compensation from this. But I have to throw some defense to the pharmacists in general.
First a side note, I’ve never heard of Materna and I’ve been working for over a year (I guess its an old med and the only prenatal vitamin that the doctor remembered). Pharmacists and the pharmacy staff are extremely overworked. I’ve seen many of these “pharmacy mistake” stories floating around but they often don’t bother to talk about how the pharmacy staff is severely abused by corporate. Literally, 4 people end up doing 8 peoples’ work and yes, mistakes will happen with this type of system in place. Not only do pharmacists have to deal with the sheer excess of prescriptions, but they have to fight with insurance companies, do back office work, answer a question about cough medicine, answering the phone, the drive thru, some lady who wants to know where the hairspray is, etc etc. If we aren’t going to let pharmacy’s do their job and only their job, I don’t think these errors will cease.
I work for Walgreens. Honestly, I’m not surprised. Their entire bottom line is company growth. I could tell you stories that would make your head spin.
You really have to check your prescriptions every single time. I’ve had so many mix-up’s and inaccurate pill counts that I don’t leave the counter until I double-check. It’s as bad as a McDonalds Drive Thru window.
i thought wrong prescriptions were a thing of the past with computerization but i guess not. this is just too sad.
Well, clearly it was the damn fetus’ fault.
(no one was blaming the victim yet, so…)
1. You can’t sue someone for poor handwriting.
2. The woman would have to prove that the miscarriage was the result of the medication.
3. She deserves money from Walgreens, hopefully the drug has not caused any permanent harm.
4. There needs to be better communication between doctors and pharmacists.
@gibbersome: It’s not like she is claiming that zinc in her antiperspirant killed her fetus — anyway, since when can’t you sue anyone for any reason?
If the pharmacist cannot read the physicians handwriting or isn’t 100i% sure, you get someone to verify the script before filling it.
As for this, accidents do happen, especially when some pharmacies are short staffed but its not like woman threw up, it caused her to lose her child and thats no joke. I wonder if Wallgreens will fight it or if they will settle. I mean, this cannot be good for PR any way you slice it.
I have gotten prescriptions and have found other drugs
mixed in and I have no idea how they got in there.
Hell, many years ago I was a customer of the now defunct Osco’s (bought out by CVS), and I had a panicked Pharm Tech call me at home after picking up my prescription of allergy meds.
Apparently she didn’t give someone the correct pills and was trying to track down whom she gave them to. I’m glad mine was correct, but to this day I wonder if she found where she put the wrong pills…
To obtain a medical license, you must:
1. Have graduated from an AMA-certified medical school,
2. Have fulfilled the residency and intern requirements in your state/city,
3. Have no criminal record,
4. Present a social security card (you do not have to surrender it),
5. Be a legal resident of the United States, and
6. Be able to type with all 10 fingers and/or have legible handwriting OR
7. have the ability to hire a secretary/typist and/or have hired one.
LOL
@Draconianspark: My well-being most certainly is relevant to caretakers’ interests, seeing as how I could sue them for everything they’re worth if they cause me injury through negligence. If the medical professionals you know aren’t at all interested in keeping their jobs and their money, I suggest you find new ones.
@timmus: Walgreens posts their drugs they sell and even how much they are per tablet.
But I will admit that there has been more times that I haven’t checked my medication from the pharmacy then when I do. It’s human nature to put your trust in someone that you believe has your best interest at heart. Which I believe that most doctors and pharmacists do. Unfortunately most pharmacies these days do not have solely the pharmacist filling the prescription but techs, that could be as highschool students. It is an unfortuante side effect of the gobbling up of independent pharmacies.
…I’ve never seen a claim as serious as this.
@cryrevolution: Exactly. I doubt it occurs to most people to look up what their pills are supposed to look like unless it’s either already happened to them before, take several medications, or are responsible for someone else’s medication. It’s not like we’re constantly reading news stories about pharmacists screwing up like this.
@MystiMel:
@rdm24:
Yes, the pharmacist is responsible. As I understand it, at the large chain stores, the pharmacist is often an employee of the firm, not an independent agent. That’s the major advantage to working at a chain store.
Hence her suing Walgreens.
@Dick.Blake: I agree with not filling the prescription if it’s illegible. I had a similar problem with Walgreens once myself. I took in a prescription and the pharmacist said to me “Maybe he meant [some drug]” and then proceeded to get that one. I just looked at her with a blank stare and told her to give me my prescription back. I haven’t gone back. Also, at the same Walgreens, my wife had a thyroid medication filled. Problem is, there are apparently two types of thyroid medication. They gave her the one that made her problem worse.
I hope this lady wins the company. People who are that incompetent shouldn’t even be ringing up Tylenol.
Worst case scenario for the guilty party: Culpable or Criminal Negligence resulting in death: Manslaughter in the Second Degree.
@Navin R Johnson: It happend at Walgreens, not Walmart.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Maybe we should be hearing about it more. From an update on this story from [www.cnn.com] :
One thing I am wondering is why they are giving a prescription for Materna, which is an OTC vitamin.
Just to lay it out, I am a Sr. Pharmacy Technician at a Walgreens. I just want to give my little insight on this situation.
Ok, true, it was Walgreens fault. There were many steps that should have been taken into consideration. First of all at a Walgreens, the first step is the image of the prescription is scanned into the computer so anyone bringing up the screen can see it. second, the technician types in the data from the script. The pharmacist verifies that the information has been correctly entered into the system, then allows the technician to fill it. After it is filled and before it goes into the hand of the patient, the pharmacist looks over the actual pill and verifies the correct pill went into the bottle and was correctly labeled. The mistake could have been anybody’s fault, but the pharmacist should have caught it. That is their job.
Mistakes happen at any pharmacy and a lot of the reason is because of the shortage of pharmacists. The corporations do not want to get rid of any of them, even those unqualified, careless, etc. that work there. Then, they have to find coverage to keep that pharmacy open because unlike most places, a pharmacy cannot legally be open if there is not a pharmacist there at all times. Therefore, you have people entrusting their lives to these type pharmacists.
Unfortunately, I know from experience. I have worked with many of them that I have caught mistakes myself at the register that they did not. And one of these mistakes could have been bad (not quite this bad, but you get the picture). I am not sure if it is laziness, if they trust their technicians too much, or what it is, but it happens. If corporations would just bite the bullet and fire those pharmacists, this problem would get better.
They would fire one of us in a heartbeat if we were not quallified.
Just a comment on the signing a form before you get your prescription…I am not sure what state you live in, but in our state we are just supposed to make sure the customer does not have any questions for the pharmacist. So, if they don’t ask about it, then unfortunately, the pharmacist does not speak with them directly. The only time a pharmacist makes sure to speak with the patient is if there is a drug allergy on file and the prescription may affect that or a reaction between medications the patient is on. The pharmacist does not speak with every patient, and legally, we technician cannot give advice or information like that.
@bradanomics: Prescription medicines are covered under drug benefit plans. The patient is either reimbursed or pays a discounted price for the medicine.
I actually work in a pharmacy and I can say that if we come across a prescription that we can’t read we always call and verify it with the doctor. We also check the profile of the patient to see that the prescribed drug matches up with other medications. In the case of Matulane, it isn’t something that is given out very often (partially because of the high price) and is only given to patients that have already been on other similar medications. The pharmacist should have noticed this and made a call to the doctor or the patient. I’m not in any way blaming the patient by saying that upon receiving the medication they should have read the information packet and realized that there was something wrong, what happened to this family was a terrible thing and someone is responsible. I guess this can be used as a lesson to always take the chance to ask you pharmacist any questions you might have and to also take the time to read the information sheet that comes along with your medications before taking them.
@mcnanners:
It’s actually a very rare occurrence to see a pharmacist fill any prescription, that is what the technicians are there for. Pharmacists just check to see that the correct drug is used.
Walgreens once gave me the wrong pills in the correct bottle (they give you a standard bottle with a label on it). The label said the correct drug info with my name, doctor’s name, etc. but when I opened the bottle, I didn’t recognize the look of the pills. Thankfully, this was a refill and I had the opportunity to know that the pills were wrong. I took it back and they switched it for me. To this day, I have no idea what they were trying to give me. If it hadn’t been a refill, who knows what would’ve happened. I feel sorry for this woman since she may not have known what the pills were supposed to look like and if the bottle had a label with the correct drug info on it, she would have had no way of knowing that it was the wrong medication in the bottle.