Parents tend to want to do what’s best for their kids and that includes getting them medicine when they need it. But how do parents know what they are given at the pharmacy is what the doctor prescribed? Counting pills, filling bottles, mixing liquids, filling different bottles — it’s a routine pharmacists everywhere do countless times a day. It’s important — sometimes life-saving medicine — unless something goes wrong. RaeAnn Daly’s infant son Jameson suffers from GERD, a digestive disease that causes severe acid reflux. He’s been battling it most of his young life. “He has a hard time eating foods,” RaeAnn said. “Sometimes when he eats them, he regurgitates. He has a hard time sleeping, laying him down. It’s been a constant fight. ” But then a couple of months ago, a medicine finally worked. Jameson just needed a little more, so doctors upped the dosage to one milliliter. “Took it home and the following day my husband dispensed both of his dosages and the next day he was drawing it up and he was using the large plunger, and I asked him why he was giving him so much medicine. He said, I read the bottle and it says give him one teaspoon.” One teaspoon was 5 days’ worth of medicine for Jameson. RaeAnn was terrified. She’d endured so much to have her son. She had already lost three children — a boy stillborn at 17 weeks, and twin girls who died after being delivered at 22 weeks. Jameson was pulled off the medicine and the symptoms returned. “We couldn’t keep food down,” RaeAnn said. “We couldn’t make him comfortable because he needed the medicine.” When he was finally put back on the medicine, Jameson couldn’t adjust and landed in the hospital. “It’s really hard to see your son turning bright red, screaming with a tourniquet on his head and for something that was avoidable,” RaeAnn said. Months later, Jameson is himself again, back on the right amount of medicine. How can you make sure what happened to Jameson doesn’t happen to your child? “What I would encourage parents to do is talk to their physician about exactly what the medicine is, how much to give and certainly double check with the pharmacist,” said J.J. Bernabei, owner of Tri-State Pharmacy. Bernabei says it takes a village — doctors, pharmacists and parents have to all be on the same page. “It’s a team effort,” he said. “One team member isn’t more important than the other.” And that means one team member should be double checking the other. It’s something the Dalys now know to do. “Double check everything you have,” RaeAnn said. “Ask questions; don’t be afraid to be that parent who is calling too much.” “The only bad questions are the ones you refuse to ask,” Bernabei said. That’s a warning from one family to others, thankful their ordeal wasn’t worse. “Had he continued to take this – he has two refills left on the medicine — who knows what may have happened. I’m glad we didn’t find out,” RaeAnn said. Because communication is so important, Bernabei also stressed the importance of using the same pharmacist each time for your family. The more familiar you are with your pharmacist the better the odds you would ask an important question.
Filed under: General Problems
This pharmacy consistently has messed up my son’s medication-even after I reported it to the State Board, TV, everywhere. He is on Pepcid, Prevacid, E.E.S, Florastor and my insurance only covers CVS. I pay out of pocket for his medications at another pharmacy since this overdose. His Pepcid alone costs me $70 a month, that Pepcid another $40, the Florastor, $70… all which would be covered by insurance if I went to CVS. This pharmacy should be shut down. This article is about my son. Also, he was only 4 months old at the time, not 22. He barely weighed 17 pounds.
That looks suspiciously like a 3 letter label…yet another med error to be glossed over with the standard press release and the “non existent” metrics and short staffing/poor working situations that most likely heavily contributed to the error continue to be ignored by the powers that be???……Thank God the parent caught the error before harm was done
“The label says one teaspoonful” the pharmacist should lose his/her license. Doses on labels should be stated as ml if a liquid dose form. I can’t believe the stupidity and lack of professionalism.