Re: Too much medication

[Guest guest]

I see some. One the pharmacy ( in the article) didn't seem (perceived) to use a

computer system to see the Doc's script and compare it with what the patient

presented. Three, the individual was not informed enough to know exactly what

he/she should have to take. Or the member could have...and knew, taking too much

would cause attention.

The article says

" Eckerd didn't have enough of the steroid, prednisone, so a technician called a

Lancaster CVS store to fill the prescription "

Is a Tech qualified to translate a script? (of course it doesn't say a pharmacy

tech..)

But if I take the article for its word. The member has a legitimate lawsuit.

One, being giving the wrong dosage of a medication (through error, not on the

patience fault) by a physician.(IN MY OPINION), this is gross negligence.

The article also tried to say the patient was negligent because of the amount of

time she has been taking the medication. (years... " she should have known

better " )

Well, the doctors write the prescriptions. If the hospital or doctor felt that

she was abusing the prescription then they should have dealt with it then. Not

continue the treatment then say it's the members fault. Ultimately, the

physician is responsible for the prescription. The member is responsible for

following the directions of the doctor. Now if the patient was given bad advice

or the doctor didn't care enough to worry about the patients personal situation

and change the level of medication...well... that's the debate.

....P.S. I don't think the " store " you buy the product from should be

responsible.

I also think that because the " Doctor " and hospital is prescribing something to

you, they should provide it. (without cost) like a hospital bed and the tray of

food.

Money or your place in society shouldn't play a role in health care.

MaC

abijann <no_reply > wrote:

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16287032.htm

<http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16287032.htm>

Tell me what you think of this article and see if you see anything you

don't

think is appropriate on here. There are a couple of things I noticed

that

doesn't seem possible, but it is a good article to warn people of what

may happen.

[Guest guest]

This article reminds me of the '' hot coffee'' Mc s law suit. New s

articles cant & dont print all the facts. Most people assumed the Mc D s law

suit was frivolous & the woman should have KNOWN that coffee is hot. What the

general public wasnt told is that McDs had been making their coffee with BOINING

HOT water. By using BOILING HOT water, they could save a few pennies, the hotter

the water, the less grounds you use & THAT S why she won her law suit. ( re: the

wall street journal)

I m trying to say, there s no way the whole trial & all the facts are in this

article, so it s hard to tell exactly what happened. I question why she says

the first kidney was 'perfect' yet it failed. & Wouldnt you notice a med that

you d taken for yrs was all of a sudden 10 x LARGER?

I know I dont check my med strength on all my scripts. I will now. Thanks for

the reminder.

Its federal law that the company is responsible for their employees mistakes.

Thats why the Drug store was sued.

Money & social standing SHOULDNT play a role in health care yet we all know

it does. Its a fact of life. My sis & I are lucky we live in MN. We have state

health insurance ( thank you, Jessie Ventura) but I know a rather famous wealthy

woman who has fibro like I do & she can afford to get extra treatments that help

alot. I can t get them.

Like I ve always told my son, LIFE ISN'T FAIR.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday. Remember, the whole point is to

enjoy your loved ones. GO DO IT !

warm hugs,

tilly

MaC wrote:

I see some. One the pharmacy ( in the article) didn't seem (perceived)

to use a computer system to see the Doc's script and compare it with what the

patient presented. Three, the individual was not informed enough to know exactly

what he/she should have to take. Or the member could have...and knew, taking too

much would cause attention.

The article says

" Eckerd didn't have enough of the steroid, prednisone, so a technician called a

Lancaster CVS store to fill the prescription "

Is a Tech qualified to translate a script? (of course it doesn't say a pharmacy

tech..)

But if I take the article for its word. The member has a legitimate lawsuit.

One, being giving the wrong dosage of a medication (through error, not on the

patience fault) by a physician.(IN MY OPINION), this is gross negligence.

The article also tried to say the patient was negligent because of the amount of

time she has been taking the medication. (years... " she should have known

better " )

Well, the doctors write the prescriptions. If the hospital or doctor felt that

she was abusing the prescription then they should have dealt with it then. Not

continue the treatment then say it's the members fault. Ultimately, the

physician is responsible for the prescription. The member is responsible for

following the directions of the doctor. Now if the patient was given bad advice

or the doctor didn't care enough to worry about the patients personal situation

and change the level of medication...well... that's the debate.

....P.S. I don't think the " store " you buy the product from should be

responsible.

I also think that because the " Doctor " and hospital is prescribing something to

you, they should provide it. (without cost) like a hospital bed and the tray of

food.

Money or your place in society shouldn't play a role in health care.

MaC

abijann <no_reply > wrote:

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16287032.htm

<http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16287032.htm>

Tell me what you think of this article and see if you see anything you

don't

think is appropriate on here. There are a couple of things I noticed

that

doesn't seem possible, but it is a good article to warn people of what

may happen.

[Guest guest]

Amen,

Thanks or can I call you " Tilly " ? You are right on spot with the Mc D's

thing and the media. Most media leave out facts in order to incite emotion. I

think that's yellow journalism(?)

God Bless you, and have wonderful happy holidays.

And, if I can prescribe...

If you haven't (in a long while or not), throw on " A Hard Days Night " by The

Beatles. Even if your a fan or not, that song will immediately make you feel

better. But if that's not your cup of tea, ie will do as well.

MaC

THOMAS WITT wrote: This

article reminds me of the '' hot coffee'' Mc s law suit. New s articles

cant & dont print all the facts. Most people assumed the Mc D s law suit was

frivolous & the woman should have KNOWN that coffee is hot. What the general

public wasnt told is that McDs had been making their coffee with BOINING HOT

water. By using BOILING HOT water, they could save a few pennies, the hotter the

water, the less grounds you use & THAT S why she won her law suit. ( re: the

wall street journal)

I m trying to say, there s no way the whole trial & all the facts are in

this article, so it s hard to tell exactly what happened. I question why she

says the first kidney was 'perfect' yet it failed. & Wouldnt you notice a med

that you d taken for yrs was all of a sudden 10 x LARGER?

I know I dont check my med strength on all my scripts. I will now. Thanks

for the reminder.

Its federal law that the company is responsible for their employees

mistakes. Thats why the Drug store was sued.

Money & social standing SHOULDNT play a role in health care yet we all know

it does. Its a fact of life. My sis & I are lucky we live in MN. We have state

health insurance ( thank you, Jessie Ventura) but I know a rather famous wealthy

woman who has fibro like I do & she can afford to get extra treatments that help

alot. I can t get them.

Like I ve always told my son, LIFE ISN'T FAIR.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday. Remember, the whole point is to

enjoy your loved ones. GO DO IT !

warm hugs,

tilly

MaC wrote:

I see some. One the pharmacy ( in the article) didn't seem

(perceived) to use a computer system to see the Doc's script and compare it with

what the patient presented. Three, the individual was not informed enough to

know exactly what he/she should have to take. Or the member could have...and

knew, taking too much would cause attention.

The article says

" Eckerd didn't have enough of the steroid, prednisone, so a technician called a

Lancaster CVS store to fill the prescription "

Is a Tech qualified to translate a script? (of course it doesn't say a pharmacy

tech..)

But if I take the article for its word. The member has a legitimate lawsuit.

One, being giving the wrong dosage of a medication (through error, not on the

patience fault) by a physician.(IN MY OPINION), this is gross negligence.

The article also tried to say the patient was negligent because of the amount

of time she has been taking the medication. (years... " she should have known

better " )

Well, the doctors write the prescriptions. If the hospital or doctor felt that

she was abusing the prescription then they should have dealt with it then. Not

continue the treatment then say it's the members fault. Ultimately, the

physician is responsible for the prescription. The member is responsible for

following the directions of the doctor. Now if the patient was given bad advice

or the doctor didn't care enough to worry about the patients personal situation

and change the level of medication...well... that's the debate.

...P.S. I don't think the " store " you buy the product from should be

responsible.

I also think that because the " Doctor " and hospital is prescribing something to

you, they should provide it. (without cost) like a hospital bed and the tray of

food.

Money or your place in society shouldn't play a role in health care.

MaC

abijann <no_reply > wrote:

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16287032.htm

<http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16287032.htm>

Tell me what you think of this article and see if you see anything you

don't

think is appropriate on here. There are a couple of things I noticed

that

doesn't seem possible, but it is a good article to warn people of what

may happen.

[Guest guest]

What about a medical database? This could be done locally (or nationally) with

local pharmaceuticals. That way the doctor( no one else) would put the

information into the computer (typed) not hand written and it would be accessed

by the pharmacist. So, there would be no misunderstanding. And there would be no

confusion no matter which Walgreens or Right-Aid you went to. It wold even

check all other meds you were already on/prescribed for reactions etc.

MaC

abijann <no_reply > wrote: There

was a few things I had noticed besides what you have posted.

Just as medical mistakes can be made in the hospital setting, they

can also be made in the pharmacies. Nothing is really perfect.

Prescriptions are usually filled with a label attached to a bottle

stating for the patient to take a certain number of pills.

Like: take one tablet three times a day. They are not usually

told how many milligrams to take. This tells me that it may

be a typo error on the part of who entered it. They may have

entered more pills to be taken or to take them more times a day.

Medication only goes up to a certain strength...

Prednisone, I believe, can go as high as 50 mg., so they had to take

a number of pills to reach that high amount.

IF the doctor told this patient he was increasing the medication

she was on or she thought he did, she may not have questioned the

amount she was taking. IF that is the case..then she should not be

held accountable at all. I feel really sorry for that girl...it

really put her through alot. She is the one who suffered the most

because of this error.

Medication is usually not permitted to leave the pharmacy unless

a Registered Pharmacist checks to be sure it is correct before

depensed to the patient. When the computer flagged this technician,

they should have contact with the REG. Pharmacist to check whether it

should continue to go through or not. Apparently, this was not done.

Either it went out to the patient without a Reg Pharmacist checking

it, or he didn't catch the mistake, or the technician took matters

into their own hands and did not follow protocol.

The doctor may have wrote out the prescription correctly, of which

the doctor would not of been held accountable but the pharmacy. If

the doctor wrote and it wasn't clear what was wrote on the

prescription, then the pharmacy is responsible to contact the doctor

office to verify what was wrote.

A practice that I never agreed with, is that doctors office

and not the doctors themselves can call in a prescription. They

could make a mistake in what they read to you from what the

doctor wrote. What you hear on the telephone may not be what is

registered in a person mind to write down and, as everyone knows,

telling numbers and names over the phone can sometimes be unclear.

How many times have you had to spell something out for someone on the

phone? Many people have accents and it is hard to fiqure out what they

are saying to begin with. Whoever took the transfer of the

medication info over the phone should have repeated it back to be

sure what they wrote down was correct. There is too much room

for error with medication information being told over a phone.

And, if you think about it, reading someone elses handwriting when

some put a slash through a 7 or their 5's look like 3's...There

is too much room for errors. I feel all prescriptions should have

to be typed out and checked a second time before given to patients

also. (IT may help if they were required to write out the numbers

instead: take two tablets three times a day instead of take

2 tablets 3 times a day.)

Most pharmacies, if they cannot fill the medication will give

the patient the prescription back to take to another pharmacy.

The problem comes up with this when a number of medications

are wrote on the same prescription form. The pharmacy will

then fill all prescriptions they can and then either write out

a copy for the remaining prescription to take to another pharmacy

with their pharmacy label where it is coming from or call the other

pharmacy. This could be eliminated, if doctors could only

use one form for each medication required. Something to

think about.

You are right about newspapers do not always tell the whole story

or tell it correctly. Good point. I've noticed this many time in

obits in the paper. They get peoples named spelled wrong and even on

the tonight show on TV...J. Leno shows how many times advertisement

are wrong.

We live in a society where errors are becoming a natural thing

to happen. It seems as technology and computers are taking over...

people are less apt to double check themselves and rely on a

machines to do it for them. Add to that tension, stress, and

being pushed to get things done fast. I know, myself, that

I have to go back and read what I post on here. I make mistakes

and never realized I did till I do this. Sometimes, I see it

after I hit the Send button and away it goes. GRIN ;-( OH NO!!

Hitting the stop button doesn't work. There it goes into

the wild blue yonder.

Thanks for sharing your ideas with me...I see other things

that wasn't evident to me with this article.

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Mac, This is an excellent idea. Since I receive medicaid/medicare,

most of my scripts are on a system and I go to a local mom and pop

pharmacy, which really helps me when too many docs have contradicted

the meds they are giving me. Unfortunately the only pain meds I can

use are the duralgesic patch and the actiq lozenge. Very addictive and

I hope to pull myself once more off of them both, but after having my

spleen taken out....well the pain meds were just too helpful. I also

have to take meds that are given to chemo pts for nausea and my

pharmacy is really helpful that if the one the doc orders isn't covered

as much as he'd like, then they know what meds are covered and suggest

me to ask the doc. I certainly believe in a system such as you talked

about, because when I was addicted to the pain meds....it was very

helpful to be turned down from every rx shop. Hope you had a nice

holiday.

Peace to all,

Ginger