Pharmacy Errors Kill

Dan Frith

Contributor

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This is a sad story about a mistake made by a pharmacist at a Walgreens pharmacy. Terry Smith, a 46 year old roofer, was taking methadone, a narcotic pain reliever, for back and leg pain. He filled the prescription at a nearby Walgreens, returned home, and began taking the medication. Within 36 hours, he was found dead and curled up on the shower floor.

How did it happen? The prescription written by Smith's doctor contained instructions to take four tablets twice a day for chronic pain. Unfortunately, the Walgreens pharmacy dispensed the prescription with instructions to "take four (4) pills as needed for chronic pain," according to court records. The incorrect label on the medication vial placed no limit on the number of pills which could be taken each day. The autopsy report showed Terry Smith had died of methadone toxicity.

The case is the fourth prescription-error trial involving a fatality since September 2006 for the nation's largest drugstore chain in sales and profits. Jurors in Illinois, Arizona and Florida have rung up more than $61 million in prescription-error verdicts against Walgreens in the three previous trials.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.