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If you receive an incorrect prescription, wrong dosage of drugs, or if a pharmacist made another error with your medication, the results can be very serious. Because a pharmacy error may cause you to get worse, suffer side-effects, or take a trip to the emergency room, you probably want someone who oversees the pharmacist to know about your scare so that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
As a result, you may turn to telling the manager of the pharmacy about the pharmacy error that lead to your health scare; however, the manager will likely apologize. While an apology is nice, it is important to know that someone is taking your incident seriously and looking into the matter. This is why you may want to file a complaint with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy.
How the Board Handles Pharmacy Complaints
After the Board receives your pharmacy error complaint in writing, the Board will review your allegations to determine if the nature of the matter is something under their jurisdiction. For example, the Board doesn’t handle complaints involving customer service; however, if your complaint is about receiving the wrong medication, then the Board would investigate it.
The Texas State Board of Pharmacy has a process in place when they receive a complaint about a pharmacist, pharmacy technician, or a possible violation by a pharmacy. The process includes:
- Reviewing your complaint to determine if the pharmacy or pharmacist is licensed by the Board and under their jurisdiction.
- Evaluating your complaint to determine if the complaint would violate the Texas Pharmacy Act of Texas Drug Laws.
- Closing your complaint if it isn’t under their jurisdiction or isn’t a violation.
- Investigating your complaint if it is a violation and under their jurisdiction.
- Contacting you to get additional information about the incident.
- Taking disciplinary action if it is needed (e.g., suspend or revoke a license, fine a pharmacy, reprimand a pharmacist).
- Formal settlement is made or case will proceed to a public hearing by an Administrative Law Judge.
- Notify you in writing of the status and resolution of your claim.
There may also be informal conferences between the pharmacist, pharmacy, and Board. You may be notified about the conferences in case you want to attend. However, you need to understand that the Board is not representing you in your complaint. If you want to pursue damages for your losses, you would need to hire an attorney who has successfully represented other injured victims against pharmacists and pharmacies throughout Texas.
To find out more about pharmacy error cases the State Board of Pharmacy handles, read through our online library or follow us on Twitter.