While it doesn’t seem like a prescription error like this should ever take place at a pharmacy, it could happen because your name is similar to another patient’s name, you resemble another customer, or the pharmacy employee was not paying close attention.
The reality is that pharmacy technicians and pharmacists are often in a hurry. They are busy answering phone calls, answering patients’ questions, managing the drive thru window, filling prescriptions, and ringing customers up at the cash register. Unfortunately, because they have so many duties, they often get interrupted in the middle of a task. In addition, many pharmacy technicians and pharmacists work very long hours—sometimes 10- or 12-hour shifts—and are often working while drowsy. Any one of these things can contribute to medication error where a member of the pharmacy team ends up giving the wrong medication to a customer.
In addition, medication errors can occur when a member of the pharmacy staff takes a short cut or isn’t paying close attention to his duties. In fact, this lack of attention to detail is often what causes pharmacy employees to hand out the wrong medications to customers.
No matter what the reason, it is never ok to hand out the wrong drug to a customer. Serious injuries can result from taking medication that was intended for someone else, and pharmacies that push their employees to work long hours and carry unreasonable workloads should be held accountable for serious medication mix-ups.
Have you been hurt after receiving someone else’s prescription drug? Request your free copy of our book entitled How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors or contact our office today using our live chat.
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Related Links: Reasons Hospital Patients Receive the Wrong Medication Holding a Pharmacy Accountable for Distributing the Wrong Meds |
