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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this mother was partly at fault

81 replies

phantomhairpuller · 18/07/2013 18:18

pharmacy dispenses ear drops for conjunctivitis

Surely the daft cow should have read the label, no?!

Do people really put things into their children's eyes without first reading the directions?

And as for the poor child's name... Shock

OP posts:
SuperiorCat · 18/07/2013 21:42

It doesn't actually say that the medicine was prescribed or issued by the pharmacy does it? It could be over the counter medicine that she bought from a sales assistant rather than pharmacist, not that that excuses them selling her the wrong stuff, but may explain it.

kali110 · 18/07/2013 21:43

I also hope the person who made the mistake isnt struck off.

Xihha · 18/07/2013 21:56

I'm amazed how many people are saying they dont double check what they've been given! Pharmacists are still human and can make mistakes, surely it's better to be safe than sorry.

It says in the article that she noticed they were the wrong thing later on so I would guess there was something on the box that she could have noticed if she had checked before using them otherwise she wouldn't of noticed later either. Its still mostly the pharmacies fault but she should of checked.

It's not a name I would of chosen either but everyone's different.

Joanne279 · 18/07/2013 22:18

Always always ALWAYS check the label/dosage/etc

My dr once prescribed me a drug I'm allergic to. I checked with the pharmacist who confirmed it was ok to take. I was still unsure so rang the surgery......who issued another prescription...why? Because I'm allergic and the dr missed it! And the pharmacist told me it was ok to take with my allergy. Also, don't prescriptions need to be dispensed and checked? So 2 people missed it! Tut tut!

My kids are 8, 5 and 9 months. Been giving calpol for years but i check the label everytime! It's takes 5 seconds!

Some people think I'm over the top, but I'm happy so who cares lol

pharmacist · 18/07/2013 23:02

Yet another scary thread showing how much blind trust people have in the human beings that are pharmacists.

Yes, everything gets checked, by 3 separate people at my place, yes, we're all trained and experienced, yes pharmacists have degrees and are well paid so mistakes shouldn't happen.

But mistakes do happen. Chloramphenicol 5% ear drops get given out on prescriptions for chloramphenicol 0.5% eye drops in the almost identical looking boxes and little babies get sore eyes. Propranolol tablets get given out for prednisolone tablets (also in identical boxes, from shelves filled with other identical boxes) and people die as a result.

I'm not trying to excuse errors, but human errors do happen when there are humans involved and any pharmacist who says they're never made an error is lying or it hasn't got back to them. A 99.99% accuracy rate at my place works out at around 20 errors per year, and we can't choose whether the errors are nice simple ones (2 tablets short for eg) or big nasty fatal ones, they just happen.

Please, please, please read the label. And the box. And the prescription before you hand it in. And if you think for even a split second it might not be right, take it back and get them to check again.

They'll be grateful you picked it up before your child came to any harm, and not just because of the compensation claim.

claraschu · 18/07/2013 23:13

Name was definitely Mum's fault.

Joiningthegang · 18/07/2013 23:14

My kids get eye drops for use in their ears

Yabu

kali110 · 19/07/2013 00:19

Doc at a walk in center once gave me a prescription for someone in their eighteens. Im in my twenties :-/

Idocrazythings · 19/07/2013 01:15

She took the baby back to check when her eyes were going red, which shows common sense. If she was stupid she'd have kept giving them. I'm agreeing with others who say maybe she does not have a high degree of literacy. When a pharmacist is labelling and handing over a medication they are responsible.

Idocrazythings · 19/07/2013 01:22

Pharmacist yes errors occur, as you said. I have made them, in the past, and anyone who says they haven't just doesn't know about the mistake they have made (or lying as you said!), BUT isn't that why we have so many checks procedures and policies in place now? It is now 2013 and a very different world and working place to when I first graduated in 1996. I really think nowadays the way guidelines are structured and safeguarded means errors should not be excusable. And anyone giving out a medication is accountable.

StuntGirl · 19/07/2013 01:33

Of course the mother should have checked. Reading the instructions is important every time you get new medication. If you blindly put your trust in 'professionals' you are a fool. As qualified and intelligent as they are they are human too.

And the pharmacist should, of course, have given the correct medication. I sincerely doubt it was deliberate. Mistakes unfortunately happen. S/he will probably get struck off.

ZingWidge · 19/07/2013 01:43

I tend to check the label for info, dosage etc - but never to deliberately confirm what I was given!

anyway I can't check what's in the bottle!
there could have been a mix up with the content - noone would have known!

yes, I trust to be given the right thing.

LookMaw · 19/07/2013 05:47

The pharmacist is at fault, obviously. (I personally always read the little leaflet that comes with medicines, and google them. But that's just me and my weird thirst for medical knowledge)

But going to the papers and demanding they lose their entire career because of one simple human error, that luckily didn't do any real harm?

Clearly the mother has never made a mistake.

pharmacist · 19/07/2013 07:24

Idocrazythings yes nowadays things are different, we now have written SOPs to tell us 'check the medication is right' and if the medication isn't right then we can be beaten with the SOP folder as well. Errors still happen.

The Swiss Cheese model is a good one I think, you can do everything in your power to reduce the number of holes but there's still the possibility that the holes will line up and an error will get through. That's why planes still crash even though the airlines' safety measures are far far stricter than any doctor's or pharmacist's.

I don't expect anyone to analyse what's in their medication, but the mum could have read the word 'ear' instead of 'eye' on the box, had she read the box.

Not excusing errors, we all feel horrible when one happens, more in a 'what could have happened' sense, we all like to think all our checks are failsafe but they're not, one minor, no-harm error could easily have been the one that kills someone.

Off to work now, 800 prescriptions to check today, enjoy the sunshine everyone Grin

justmatureenough2bdad · 19/07/2013 07:43

i certainly sympathise with the mum in this situation i hate, hate, hate "i want whoever is responsible for this struck off"....no argument that it was a mistake, but it was neither fatal nor, it would seem, even particularly injurious.

As such it doesn't justify such a demand. Perhaps request an investigation and some indication of a process review to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

perspective........

pianodoodle · 19/07/2013 07:52

I think it's disproportionate for her to call for the pharmacist to lose their job.

Original poster
phantomhairpuller · 19/07/2013 09:57

IMO the mother wants to be bloody grateful that her child suffered nothing more than a slight allergic reaction. Things could have been a whole lot worse and for that reason the pharmacist needs a bloody good slap on the wrists but does not deserve to lose his/her job over it.

As a few people have already said, we're all human and we ALL make mistakes. In this instance, you learn from it and you move forward.

Selling the story to the papers is a blatant attempt at getting a nice bit of compensation.

OP posts:
Sallystyle · 19/07/2013 10:03

I had a similar incident when my son was prescribed antibiotics.

The pharmacist wrote the wrong dosage on the bottle so he was getting double the dose three times a day. After two dosages I worked it out that it couldn't be right but to start with I just trusted that she knew what she was doing.

I got a letter of apology.

OhDearNigel · 19/07/2013 10:04

Lots of caribbean women have names like Cherish, maybe its a family name. I cant see its any different to Hope, Charity, Grace or Faith

OhDearNigel · 19/07/2013 10:06

IMO the mother wants to be bloody grateful that her child suffered nothing more than a slight allergic reaction

Nice

mrsravelstein · 19/07/2013 10:13

i always take the leaflet out of the box and read everything before i take any medicine or give any to my kids - checking if there are any contraindications, reactions to other medications, checking that its the right medicine for what's wrong - there have been many many occasions when i've been prescribed something that turns out to be inappropriate for one reason or another. and yes i read all the small print on legal documents etc too. i am amazed that people don't.

Original poster
phantomhairpuller · 19/07/2013 10:13

Nigel, MY opinion. Clearly different to yours. That's life Shock

OP posts:
kooksi · 19/07/2013 10:17

It's quite a nice name

AmyFarrahFowlerCooper · 19/07/2013 10:21

Surely a job working with medication is one where mistakes shouldn't be made? They should be double checking, triple checking everything they prescribe. Since that is, you know, their job.

Original poster
phantomhairpuller · 19/07/2013 10:31

Surely a job working with medication is one where mistakes shouldn't be made? They should be double checking, triple checking everything they prescribe. Since that is, you know, their job.

Absolutely. But the fact of the matter is, mistakes happen. They shouldn't happen, but they do.

OP posts: