Error gives pregnant woman abortion pill

[catharina]

"FORT LUPTON, Colo., Feb. 8 (UPI) – A pregnant Colorado woman said she is in danger of losing her unborn child because of a prescription drug error by a Safeway pharmacy in Fort Lupton.

Mareena Silva, who is six weeks pregnant, was given a drug called Methotrexate, which is used to terminate early-stage pregnancies, instead of the antibiotic her doctor prescribed.

“I took it because I thought it was mine,” Silva told KMGH-TV, Denver.

…"

Read more: upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/02/08/Error-gives-pregnant-woman-abortion-pill/UPI-49811297176696/#ixzz1DQSeMe00

 

[nickybr38]

Am I the only one who takes my prescriptions home and studies the pills, related risks and history of said pills before I take them? Or do people really just blindly take whatever their doctor gives them?

 

[white_sheep]

Am I the only one who takes my prescriptions home and studies the pills, related risks and history of said pills before I take them? Or do people really just blindly take whatever their doctor gives them?

I always look at the packages, but if they are loose pills in a bottle then you’d have to read the code and look it up. I doubt most people even know that you can do that. They may have done away with that in recent years and all pills are now packaged, but I don’t know.

 

[TheHolyTrinity]

How awful!

 

[bethndanny]

Am I the only one who takes my prescriptions home and studies the pills, related risks and history of said pills before I take them? Or do people really just blindly take whatever their doctor gives them?

She was supposed to be given antibiotics. I mean, if I were prescribed something that I’d never heard of, never used before, etc I would look up the side effects and all that. But, antibiotics? I’d just take them. I just don’t think that this case is someone blindly taking whatever the doctor gives them. KWIM? I don’t know that I’ve ever read the label on a bottle, checking my name. I mean, they verify my name when I pick it up. In this case, they very well could have verified her name when she picked it up, but since it was the same last name the woman probably didn’t even notice the wrong first name. I will NOW be verifying the first and last name, as well as medication name.

I feel awful for this woman.

 

[nickybr38]

She was supposed to be given antibiotics. I mean, if I were prescribed something that I’d never heard of, never used before, etc I would look up the side effects and all that. But, antibiotics? I’d just take them. I just don’t think that this case is someone blindly taking whatever the doctor gives them. KWIM? I don’t know that I’ve ever read the label on a bottle, checking my name. I mean, they verify my name when I pick it up. In this case, they very well could have verified her name when she picked it up, but since it was the same last name the woman probably didn’t even notice the wrong first name. I will NOW be verifying the first and last name, as well as medication name.

I feel awful for this woman.

It is a terrible thing. I’m not blaming the woman at all! I am just amazed that people don’t check these things - I feel quite untrusting!!! Even antibiotics I check! They can have side effects too and I hate putting anything in my body without knowing exactly what it is and what it does.

 

[hxcCatholic413]

I always look at the packages, but if they are loose pills in a bottle then you’d have to read the code and look it up. I doubt most people even know that you can do that. They may have done away with that in recent years and all pills are now packaged, but I don’t know.

I’m sure there’s a fair amount of people that have heard of this method, but whose to know

 

[NguyenKimPhat]

The truly sad thing is that this whole tragedy could have been avoided if the pregnant woman had just carefully CHECKED the medication that she was ingesting. The internet is a gift. Use it wisely.

 

[kildare]

This tragedy would have been averted had legislators banned such pills

 

[1holycatholic]

This tragedy would have been averted had legislators banned such pills

Direct abortion is intrinsically evil.

There is a bit more to the story…

From the linked article in the OP:
“It was a prescription for a 59-year-old woman with the last name of Silva but a different first name.”
There are legitimate uses for this drug. It is used to treat cancer and psoriases.

The pharmacy seems to have made a grievous error. My pharmacy verifies the date of birth. That check could have prevented this error since the two Ms. Silvas in the story differed in age by forty years.

 

[Pug]

Am I the only one who takes my prescriptions home and studies the pills, related risks and history of said pills before I take them? Or do people really just blindly take whatever their doctor gives them?

But what if the pharmacist put the wrong pills into your bottle? Your fact checking will not protect you unless you compare a photograph of your pills to a standard photograph of the drug. For all we know, the lady in the news story knew the doctor perscribed penicillin, and she did look up the drug facts for it before she picked up her pill bottle at the pharmacy. She might have stood there watching the pharmacist look at the pill bottle and ask her for her name, and read the bottle to verify, so she wouldn’t have checked the name herself, since she saw the thing checked before her eyes.

It sounds like a tragic error to me. People will make errors now and then.

 

[1holycatholic]

But what if the pharmacist put the wrong pills into your bottle? Your fact checking will not protect you unless you compare a photograph of your pills to a standard photograph of the drug.

Pill appearance isn’t consistent between manufacturers. I have had a common blood pressure medicine filled in various shapes and colors. The bottle describes the appearance of the pill.

I recently had a prescription filled for a muscle relaxant for back strain. There were two different styles of pills in the same bottle separated by cotton. The pharmacist explicitly mentioned this to me when I picked up the prescription.

Many pills look exactly alike. It can be quite confusing, even if you’re careful.

 

[nickybr38]

That is a good point. Recently my pharamicist tried to give me pills that weren’t for me… but twice he said the name and twice I corrected him because I knew the name of the medication I was receiving and I knew what he was saying wasn’t it.

However, since we don’t really know the full situation we can’t say much. As I said, this is truly a tragic situation.

 

[Pug]

Pill appearance isn’t consistent between manufacturers. I have had a common blood pressure medicine filled in various shapes and colors. The bottle describes the appearance of the pill.

I recently had a prescription filled for a muscle relaxant for back strain. There were two different styles of pills in the same bottle separated by cotton. The pharmacist explicitly mentioned this to me when I picked up the prescription.

Many pills look exactly alike. It can be quite confusing, even if you’re careful.

I agree. I thought you could look for the number, though in addition to shape and color, but perhaps I’m wrong. Most of my pills have something imprinted on them. You’re right that if your pharmacy switches “generics”, then the pill shape can change.

I’ve never had the pharmacy put a description of the appearance of the pill on the bottle, though. Just the doctor, my name, number of refills, the pharmacy phone number, stuff like this. Are you saying they give you the original bottle, and not those pharmacy bottles? Getting the original bottle is quite unusual in my locality.

My pharmacy usually tells me when the pill shape has changed, but not always. I end up calling them and having to ask to find out if it changed, on those occasions when I look at the pills and the shape seems wrong.

 

[1holycatholic]

I agree. I thought you could look for the number, though in addition to shape and color, but perhaps I’m wrong. Most of my pills have something imprinted on them. You’re right that if your pharmacy switches “generics”, then the pill shape can change.

I’ve never had the pharmacy put a description of the appearance of the pill on the bottle, though. Just the doctor, my name, number of refills, the pharmacy phone number, stuff like this. Are you saying they give you the original bottle, and not those pharmacy bottles? Getting the original bottle is quite unusual in my locality.

My pharmacy usually tells me when the pill shape has changed, but not always. I end up calling them and having to ask to find out if it changed, on those occasions when I look at the pills and the shape seems wrong.

Sometimes I get the original bottle. Usually I get the dark orange plastic bottles. The label on the bottle has a printout of the description of the pill’s appearance. That’s the pharmacy generated label. When I get pills in the manufacturer’s bottle the pharmacy’s label covers the original label.

I have two pills that differ only by number. Some pills are so small that imprinting a number on them probably isn’t practical.