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All the More Reason to Check Your Prescriptions During the Busy Cold & Flu Season

Are you sneezing and coughing? Do you have itchy, watery eyes, a sore throat, nasal congestion, a headache, fatigue, muscle pain, and a fever? If so, you are more than likely one of the many people who get sick during this time of the year as seasonal flu activity peaks in January and colds surface more frequently in winter months. About one billion common colds are caught annually in this nation, and approximately 5 to 20 percent of U.S. residents get the flu every year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A cold or flu generally lasts up to two weeks, and often people can recover with rest and fluids. While some let the common cold run its course, others turn to doctors to get prescriptions for antibiotics and other medications to treat their symptoms, especially when complications occur. For example, antibiotics have been proven to help shorten the course of bacterial infections such as bronchitis.

While you may take any drug the doctor prescribes to help alleviate your symptoms and help you feel better, you also don’t want to take just any drug the pharmacy dispenses. CVS pharmacists and other pharmacists in this country have made prescription mistakes and dispensing errors during the cold and flu season that have harmed patients. For this reason, you always want to check your prescription – any prescription – when you pick it up from your local pharmacy.

Don’t Rely on a Pharmacist or Pharmacy Technician to Get it Right

While pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are paid to fill prescriptions, they are human and make mistakes. Some of the medication mistakes they often make include:

  • Dispensing a medication that has a similar name to the one you were prescribed
  • Dispensing the wrong medication
  • Dispensing the incorrect dose
  • Filling your prescription with someone else’s

Pharmacists stay continuously busy during cold and flu season, and they fill hundreds of thousands of prescriptions a year. Because of the pressures of the job and time constraints, they have been known to mix up medications and make dispensing errors that can cause patients severe injuries, even death.

If you were prescribed the wrong medication or suffered a injury because of a negligent CVS pharmacist, call Kennedy Hodges, L.L.P. at 888-526-7616. A knowledgeable Texas pharmacy error lawyer will provide you with a free consultation to discuss your potential case. We would also like to give you a FREE copy of our report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.


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