We all make mistakes but......
By Kowgirl
@Kowgirl (3490)
United States
December 7, 2009 5:50pm CST
When a pharmacist makes one it can change your life and your trust in them.
I had to get a refill on my medication for diabetes and didn't bother to check it when I picked it up. They have been so good at never making a mistake I never even thought about them doing so. When I got home I took out the pill bottle and sat it with my other meds and walked off. When it was time to take my pills I opened the bottle and what a surprise I got. There were over 100 pills in the bottle and they were not anything like what my pills looked like, but sometimes they do change the size and color so I popped one in my mouth, it then crossed my mind that they may have made a mistake so I took it out fast...I then called the pharmacist and asked about the pills and if they had changed in any way. He said no, so I knew right then something wasn't right. I went on to tell him what the pills looked like and what was stamped on them. He said " Do not take them, there has been some mistake made and you have received pills meant for someone else, bring them back I will see that you get your correct medications." So many times we put our trust in people we don't really know but what else can we do? This is the reason it pays to take time to read the papers attached to the bag our medication comes in and if it doesn't fit the description take it back and find out why. It could save your life. Have you ever gotten the wrong pills from your pharmacy? I am now afraid that some day when I get a new prescription it too may not be what the doctor prescribed. What do you do when you lose trust in your pharmacy?
6 people like this
15 responses
@sid556 (30959)
• United States
11 Dec 09
Hi Kowgirl,
There is no room for error in the pharmacy. One little mistake have a major effect on someones health and could even be life threatning. Still, they are humans doing this job and so it only stands to reason that occasionally a mistake will be made. Knowing this, we should all take the time to double check our meds before taking them. I have never had this happen to me, thankfully. I have heard on the news not too long ago it happening to a little boy. I don't remember the details but it hopefully was an eye opener for a lot of people.
1 person likes this
@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
10 Jan 10
It was a young and new assistance that actually put the pills in the bottle.
I found out she was trying to fill more
than one prescription at a time and may have gotten them mixed up. The rules are only one medication at a time are to be on the counter table. This way there is no way to have a mix-up, unless you took the wrong medication from the shelf.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
8 Dec 09
hi kowgirl the thing is a lot of pharmacies have a cashier that takes care of the final pay up, and sometimes they really mix things up they do not give a close enough look at the paperwork on the sack and charge you for Joe Blow's medications which could kill you and charge him for yours, but if you will stop and read all the paperwork you will see immediately that it was not your name nor the names of the prescriptions you take in that sack. that happened to me and I just happened to read it and instead of Mrs 
Patsie Hatley it was Robert Kincaid and he had a bunch of medications for heart trouble. that would have done me in. I met him also on the way back to the pharmacist's cashier.we showed her the two sacks , she took them both, redid the cash out as she had charged us both wrong too then gave the right sack to each one of us.
Patsie Hatley it was Robert Kincaid and he had a bunch of medications for heart trouble. that would have done me in. I met him also on the way back to the pharmacist's cashier.we showed her the two sacks , she took them both, redid the cash out as she had charged us both wrong too then gave the right sack to each one of us.1 person likes this
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
8 Dec 09
Hi Hatley. I would have been asking for a discount to recompense for the added trip and the inconvenience. If they can't discount prescriptions, I would have asked for some off-the-shelf item I wanted at no charge. Their mistake: they pay.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
10 Jan 10
That's a really bad mistake. I'm glad you were able to catch it in time.
When my youngest needed meds I was always worried that the pharmacist would get it wrong due to the doctor's writing. As most of us know doctors are notorious for having terrible penmanship and my son's doctor's wasn't any better. But somehow the pharmacist always got it right.
I would have never thought that the pharmacists themselves could screw up a prescription. It's a scary thought that something like that can happen. I guess the best thing we can do is double check it ourselves before leaving the pharmacy to make sure it is right every single time.
Happy mylotting!
1 person likes this
@lovelyn_medrano (3070)
• Philippines
8 Dec 09
well that doesn't happen to me yet and I have a habit of checking all the items I bought before leaving the counter or pharmacy. Well, yes we all do mistakes but for the pharmacist, I think they are not allowed to do such mistakes... That may do harm to others... what if they give medicine that you are allergic of???
They must take extra and serious care in handling orders...
I am glad that you concluded that they had mistakenly gave you wrong medicine before taking it... Have a nice day Kowgirl!
@OYGAK2005 (371)
• Saudi Arabia
8 Dec 09
yes,everyone can't avoided from some mistakes in their life time.must important things is at that time we will find those mistakes that we take action or not.
@poingly (605)
• United States
8 Dec 09
Though there might be some unpleasant consequences of taking one of the wrong pill, it probably wouldn't have killed you (yes, there are a few exceptions to this, but they are rare)--however, better to notice sooner than later as this over time (or over great quantity) would be a real disaster. You did the right thing though; it's not about having faith in a pharmacy, it's about having faith in yourself!
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36447)
• United States
8 Dec 09
Wow!! Good thing you took time to check this situation out before taking any as this could have been Very dangerous for you for sure. I have never had this type of experience that I know of, but there have been issues with some of the Pharmacists I have choosen to use over time. You would think with the dangers of different medications out there, and medications only supposed to be for the person prescribed they would be a little more careful for sure. Wonder what happened from there with the person who gave you the Bottle, etc?
But since you had an understanding pharmacist I would still put my trust in there and with him or her, but from now on be a little more cautious and check everything out before leaving there as well.
1 person likes this
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
8 Dec 09
Hi Kowgirl. Just as well you queried it before taking a tablet!
Here in Australia all prescriptions are now computer printed, so there shouldn't be mistakes in the contents. The assistant at the pharmacy I use ALWAYS checks the name against the script, and then it is checked again at the cash register at the front of the store. That should eliminate any mishaps.
PS Did you know that depicting a flag upside down is an insult to the country?
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Dec 09
Thankfully I don't take medications in general, just an occasional antibiotic if I have an infection. What I do is go to the pill identifier website and look up the image of the pill to make sure what I have is what I'm suppose to have. All meds have usually an identifying number on it...if you're not sure, type in the number and something should come up to tell you what it is--did the pharmacist tell you what the wrong pills they gave you were for?
Actually I had a different situation entirely, but it also could have cost me my life. My doctor prescribed two meds when I had bronchitis. An antibiotic and an asthma med....this was a doctor I trusted and was a good doctor in general. Anyway, I take the prescriptions to my pharmacy and the pharmacist nearly had a heart attack...he said if I had taken that combo, well let's put it this way, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this
1 person likes this
@EnglishTeaDuck (862)
• United States
8 Dec 09
That is a little scary (I am diabetic too!) but I guess it is up to us to check - I check my prescriptions usually, and I think I, like you, would be alerted if it looked different etc.
I don't think I would want the responsibility of being a pharmacist!
1 person likes this
@UCantSeeMe (116)
• United States
8 Dec 09
To err is human we all make mistakes. Luckily the mistake on your behalf as realized before you ingested. I myself have received the wrong meds once but since its such a rare occurrence i dont lose faith in a rare mistake. If you bring it to their attention as a concern im sure that you will find that the percentage of error is greatly reduced. Im not saying have a protest or burn the building down just allow them to know that they need to double check their work. People who go around swearing and causing scene accomplish nothing, not that you would but there are so many that would do something like that.
1 person likes this
@grajesh29 (99)
• India
8 Dec 09
everybody makes mistakes throughout there life....noone is perfect in his/her life but its how you rectify your mistakes in future...many people rectify there mistakes through the course of time and improve on it...
1 person likes this
@jewels49 (1776)
• United States
8 Dec 09
Thank goodness you didn't take the wrong medication. At least they admitted their mistake and corrected it. I have had the pharmacy make a mistake before, it was the firsts in 15 years of using the same pharmacy so we stuck with them.No harm was done, (like you I knew something wasn't right when I opened the bottle). Anyone can make a mistake. I would think you would only have to worry if they made alot of them.
Our same pharmacy once caught a mistake the doctor had made in prescribing a medication to our little one in a dose that would have killed him. The pharmacist called the Dr and got everything corrected. Had it not been for him....
Your story serves as a good reminder to all of us to be aware and not blindly trust even the professionals all the time..Especially when it comes to our health.
Again, really glad you weren't harmed in any way.
1 person likes this
