shocked

[dottymum]

I have a 3 week old son. He had a bit of a cold, so I took him to the GP. The Gp prescribed 5 ml 3 times a day of infant paracetamol. The pharmacist dispensed the prescription, I took it home. ... read the leaflet in the box. it said this was the dose for a 1-6 year old child. I called a different pharmaist who told me this was a massive overdose for such a small baby. It should not be give outside of a hospital to any babyo under 2 months old, or under 4000 grams.
The pharmacist then started the complaints process. The GP surgery offered me an apology today. This doseage could have killed my beautiful perfect little boy. And they think ;sorry' is enough!
I know I didnt give it to him, and he is alright, but the fact he came so close to being so badly hurt or worse has really upset me, and I jsut needed to tell someone. Noone seems to care or thinks Im overreacting.
The Gp is being put through a clinical meeting on Tuesday about the mistake.
I dont know what to say...help? I cant seem to stop crying. Which is stupid because nothing happened to him.

[southeastastra]

that's terrible!

[Twiglett]

of course you're shocked but bravo you .. you did the right thing and checked .. and DS is fine

GP will get dealt with and for a surgery to issue an apology is amazing

[ilovecaboose]

Very lucky that you checked the leaflet and good that you went and spoke to pharmacist.

I'm not surprised that you are so upset and it will take a while to get over this. BUt remember nothing happened adn youur ds is fine.

Talking over what happened is probably going to help. Glad you are doing so.

[JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa]

I am so glad you are clever enough to actualy read the instructions, they need to make the gp realise the severity of his mistake , a different mother might have just taken his word for it. poor you

[WeaselMum]

You're definitely not stupid or overreacting - I would feel the same and you have my total sympathy. Really glad nothing happened to your little boy. xx

[dottymum]

Thank you all for understanding. I dont check every time I take or give medicine to my dd or myself. I am so relieved that I did check this time. The consequences would have been beyond awful. I guess I feel it was a close call for my ds, and that it put a lot of pressure and responsibility on me. Which is a bit flakey, I know, its my job to protect and care for ds and dd.

The apology did help, and they will keep me informed as to what the final outcome will be. I know the doctor didnt do it on purpose, and Im sure he will be upset to have come so close to hurting a baby (or i hope so), but I really hope he gets struck off - which i know is unlikely.

Ive spent the whole day trying not to think about the 'what ifs'. Im lucky to be sitting here with my son (now recovered from the cold) on my lap,perfectly happy and healthy.

[canadianmum]

thank goodness you checked, too many people still believe doctors are infallible and this yet again proves they are not. I can't believe the first pharmacist didn't pick it up too!!

You are NOT overreacting at all.

Do you think the GP was newly qualified?? That seems a pretty basic mistake......

[Twiglett]

you should ALWAYS read the instruction leaflet in any medicine

[lulumama]

the fear of what could have been is making you cry...how terribly...but how lucky it was picked up on.....i would certainly be making a complaint in your shoes.....

[Posey]

I think the pharmacist is equally accountable as the GP. When I was nursing, if a docyor prescribed the wrong dose of a medicine and I dished it out to a patient, I would have been as much to blame. No end of times I had to get junior doctors to prescribe properly.

Your post made my blood run cold. SO glad for you that you checked and your precious lo isn't harmed.

[dottymum]

..I will ALWAYS check from now on. I dont think Ill ever trust a doctor again.

He was about 40 years old. His English was not native level of fluency and very heavily accented, so not newly qualified, but probably not trained here.

I cant believe the first pharmacist didnt pick it up, either. The second pharmacist has been fantastic.

I havent had a drink for about a year - due to trying for a baby, and then being pregnant/breastfeeing, but I seriously feel like a glass of wine.

It keeps going through my mind, that I could have put drugs into my son's mouth, that would have killed him. It wouldnt have been my fault, per se, but I would have felt like it was, and it would have absolutely destroyed me and my family. I love him and dd so very very much.

I do need to calm down. Cant wait for dd to go to bed so I can have a good cry

[dottymum]

The pharmacist started the complaints process process, but I will also be making a complaint after I hear the outcome of the clinical review meeting on Tuesday.

I would like a written apology, and I do want the doctor to be put through a review. Who knows what he has been prescribing to people. He may well have made mistakes which have gone unnoticed.

I didnt even think about the first pharmacist. I suppose they had a duty of care towards ds too, and they actually gave me the medicine with the doseage printed out on a label on the bottle and ds's name on the bottle...

[Beauregard]

Really to read this Dottymum
Just goes to show that you cant even trust a doctor.
So glad that your ds is ok ,but im sure that the memory of what if will haunt you for some time to come,so no a sorry just isn't enough.

[HappyMumof2]

Message withdrawn

[dottymum]

happymum, that is truely terrible. You must have been so angry they made your precious dd suffer needlessly. Did you complain?

[HappyMumof2]

Message withdrawn