Prescribed the Wrong Medication

[Abbi]

My question involves medical malpractice in the state of: Washington.

I'm asking this question on behalf of my sister. She was prescribed a medication that is contraindicated with a medication she was already on and had to be hospitalised as a result. Is a mistake like this something that can be pursued in court?

Thank you.

[jk]

did she tell the doctor she was on the first medication so he knew there was a problem?

did she have the second prescription filled at the same pharmacy as she has the first scrip filled?

what are the meds?

Is she now ok? What treatment did she require?

[Abbi]

I'm not sure whether the doctor knew she was on the first medication but he should have known. He's a new at the clinic she goes to and not the doctor she usually sees.

She did go to a different pharmacy. Unfortunately if she had gone to her usual pharmacy they would definitely have seen the mistake. She went to a different pharmacy near the clinic because she was due a dose. She saw the meds looked completely different (green and white instead of red) so she went back to the clinic.

She asked to speak to the doctor but it was busy so she told the receptionist said she would give a message to the doctor about it. After waiting around for an hour the doctor came and told her it was fine and the prescription was right and said he'd have to put in her chart that she was threatening non-compliance. Obviously he couldn't have actually checked against the old prescription or he would have seen it was wrong, so he either outright lied or more likely he got mixed up somehow.

The meds she should have been given were Parnate. He gave her Paroxetine.

Thankfully she's OK now. I don't know the full list of treatment she needed but she was in the hospital for a week because she kept having seizures even after they gave her something to clear both meds out of her.

[jk]

She did go to a different pharmacy. Unfortunately if she had gone to her usual pharmacy they would definitely have seen the mistake. She went to a different pharmacy near the clinic because she was due a dose. She saw the meds looked completely different (green and white instead of red) so she went back to the clinic.

You said a new prescription interacting with a current scrip caused the problem. How can you argue she noticed the meds looked different. She never had them before so she would not have anything to compare them to.



She asked to speak to the doctor but it was busy so she told the receptionist said she would give a message to the doctor about it. After waiting around for an hour the doctor came and told her it was fine and the prescription was right and said he'd have to put in her chart that she was threatening non-compliance. Obviously he couldn't have actually checked against the old prescription or he would have seen it was wrong, so he either outright lied or more likely he got mixed up somehow.

The meds she should have been given were Parnate. He gave her Paroxetine.

You didn't say anything about her being given the wrong med. You said she had an interaction between a med she was already on and a new med.

This latest post describes a completely difference situation that your first post.

[Dogmatique]

What was the other med? She was given Parnate *instead* of paroxetine. What was other med which caused the interaction?

[Abbi]

Sorry I'm not really explaining the situation very clearly. I was trying to keep it brief.

The meds my sister was on (for over two years) was Parnate.

She went to her see the doctor to get her script.

Her doctor wasn't there so she saw the new doctor.

He gave her a script for Paroxetine.

She filled the script and when she went to take one she noticed they looked different. Parnate are small red pills and these were not small red pills.

She went straight back to the doctor to ask about it he told her the script was right.

She took them and ended up in hospital. Is this actionable?

[Dogmatique]

OK - did the doctor actually mis-prescribe, or did the pharmacy mis-read?

[Abbi]

It was mis-precribed.

[jk]

Ok, finally.


From what I can see, those drugs are definitely not to be used in conjunction with each other and the problems she experienced were listed as possible reactions.

So, can she pursue this in court; while it would be possible, unless she has any permanent or at least long lasting effects, it would likely not be financially viable. She does need to speak with her regular physician about this specific incident about any possible long term effects she should be watching for.

It wouldn't hurt to speak with a medmal attorney but I would not be surprised to hear she has been told it is not worth the cost of suing.

[Abbi]

How much does this sort of thing usually cost?

My sister lives off a small inheritance and her medical bills will wipe that out. It just doesn't seem right to me that the doctor could make such a mistake and my sister be left with huge medical bills.

She's been told there shouldn't be any long term effects. All we really wanted was for them to cover the bills. I thought they would and they'd have insurance for this kind of thing but the clinic has refused to speak about it so that's we were considering a lawyer.