The Reality of Texas Pharmacists Overdosing Patients

Pharmacists in Texas and throughout this nation fill many prescriptions every day. While most medications given to customers typically help instead of harm, sometimes pharmacy errors are made that cause patients to suffer health problems. This can occur when pharmacists fill the wrong dosages of medications, and patients take the drugs not having any idea that the medications they are taking are incorrect dosages.

According to an interview by KEYE TV, Kim Pfeiffer, mother of son Karl, told the television news station that her son was put in the hospital twice because a pharmacy in southwest Travis County made a mistake with her son’s medicine. “I just couldn’t believe the medicine had been overdosing my child for six months,” said Pfeiffer. Her son was supposed to receive 25-milligram pills, but the pharmacy dispensed 150-milligram pills instead. “They had the wrong dosage. Six times wrong,” said Pfeiffer, who had no idea the pharmacy made this dangerous mistake with her son’s medication.

According to KEYE TV, this is just one of the hundreds of dispensing error complaints made each year to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. Sadly, many of us rely on prescriptions and trust pharmacists at our local pharmacies to dispense the correct medications. However, the truth is that mistakes with our drugs can occur and could be potentially harmful or deadly.

Because of the reality of receiving a prescription overdose, our pharmacy error lawyers always recommend that patients check their medications before taking them, and go online and type in the pill identifier (the code found on the pill) to reduce their chances of taking the wrong pill or wrong drug dosage. However, even if you didn’t check your pills and were harmed as a result of a pharmacy mistake, you have rights. To learn about your rights, you should order a free copy of our report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.