Tampa Bay Personal Injury Lawyer - Prescription Errors

First Florida Vioxx Trial Underway in Tampa

Brenda Fulmer — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:37:22 GMT

Jury selection and opening statements have now been completed in the trial of Refik Kozic v. Merck, the first Vioxx case to proceed to trial in the State of Florida. Refik Kozic, a current resident of Jacksonville and a former long-term resident of Tampa, filed his lawsuit against Merck in 2003 for injuries relating to the heart attack that he suffered after ingesting Vioxx daily for 9 weeks. Judge William P. Levens is presiding over the trial, which is anticipated to last for another 2 1/2 weeks. The Plaintiff's trial team includes Jim Clark and Don Greiwe of Alley, Clark, Greiwe & Fulmer in Tampa and Fred Levin, Troy Rafferty and Pete Kaufman of Levin, Papantonio in Pensacola.

Refik Kozic is popular former soccer player with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and New York Cosmos. He retired from professional sports in the 1980s, but continued to play and coach soccer in the Tampa Bay Area for a number of years. Refik started taking Vioxx in February of 2001 due to knee pain stemming from old soccer-related injuries. Nine weeks later, Mr. Kozic suffered a significant heart attack due to a large blood clot in his heart and underwent surgery to place a metal stent in one of his arteries.

Mr. Kozic filed suit against Merck for his injuries and damages related to his heart attack. His lawsuit includes claims relating to the negligent and defective design, manufacture, and marketing of Vioxx. Also, the court has permitted Mr. Kozic to also bring a claim for punitive damages against Merck.

Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in 2004 after several studies noted a significantly increased risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients using the drug. Currently, there are nearly 40,000 lawsuits pending against Merck in state and federal courts across the country. Most of the claims filed by Floridians who suffered heart attacks or strokes after taking Vioxx are pending in the multi-district litigation proceedings in New Orleans. It is anticipated that many of these cases will be returned to local Florida jurisdictions and set for trials either later this year or in 2008.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brenda Fulmer

$25.8M Awarded in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Walgreens

Chrissie Cole — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:05:00 GMT

A wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2003, by the family and children of a cancer patient that died when she was given the wrong prescription, was settled Friday when the jury awarded $25.8 million.

In 2002 the woman was prescribed Warfarin, a blood thinner, to treat breast cancer. The prescription she was given was ten times stronger than what her doctor had prescribed.

The mother of three passed way in January, she was only 46. The Polk County Circuit County jury found the prescription error was responsible for the cerebral hemorrhage that resulted in permanent bodily injury, physical pain and disability.

"She died unnecessarily because this tenfold overdose with Warfarin by the pharmacy she trusted caused her cancer to come back with a vengeance and it interrupted all of her cancer treatments," her lawyer said. "They have been seeking justice for almost five years and this was a case that screamed out for justice."

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to our section on Wrongful Death.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Suit Claims Pharmacy Error Led to Premature Birth

Chrissie Cole — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:10:11 GMT

A woman claims her pregnancy complications were the result of a prescription error at CVS Pharmacy and is now suing the company for over $50,000.

"Defendant through its employees, agents, and servants, misfilled the prescription. Plaintiff subsequently suffered complications due to the misfilled prescription, was forced to deliver the minor plaintiff by C-section prematurely, and both suffered injuries due to the negligence of the defendant.

The lawsuit states the woman turned in a prescription for an antibiotic and instead received Vytorin (a cholesterol-lowering drug).

"Defendant failed to properly administer the correct medication, the plaintiff was pregnant, and the Vytorin caused complications with the pregnancy, and subsequently caused early delivery."

The suit alleges the pharmacy was negligent for failing to properly fill the correct medication, failing to recognize her symptoms, and "failing to engage in recognized and acceptable practices in the medical profession to limit the likelihood and probability of infection following the treatment provided by the defendant."

She is suing for physical pain and suffering in the past and future, mental anguish, loss of wages, loss of earning capacity, disfigurement, physical impairment and future medical expenses.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Palm Springs Man Given Wrong Prescription

Shannon Weidemann — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:27:39 GMT

A man from Palm Springs claims that Walgreens gave him the wrong prescription that is not to be taken with his insulin medication. They dispensed him Prednisone which is not to be taken with Novalane 30/70. He has bene picketing the store in the hopes of getting an apology.

A Walgreens spokesperson said that they apologize for the error and want to cover Kozlow's medical bills, WPBF reported.
The company said it's just waiting to get the needed paperwork from Kozlow's doctor.

The man claims that the drug combination made him ill. He wants to bring attention to the store's error so that it does not happen to anyone else.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

This Prescription Error Is A Disaster

Bob Carroll — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 08:02:12 GMT

Misfilled prescriptions or prescription errors continue to occur at an alarming rate in Florida. And, sadly, they sometimes produce a devastating injury or death. The following news report shows the problem is not limited to our state.

Pharmacy error nets $8 million jury award

LANCASTER, S.C. - A jury has awarded a Lancaster woman nearly $8 million after she lost the use of her only kidney when a local drugstore gave her five times the amount of medication she was supposed to take.
Following a two-week trial in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas, a judge on Dec. 8 ordered Rhode Island-based Eckerd Corporation to pay Tiffany Phillips $7.7 million for its role in the medicine mix-up.
Co-defendant CVS, also based in Rhode Island, reached a confidential settlement with Phillips for an undisclosed amount as the jury deliberated, said CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis.
In 2002, Tiffany Phillips, now 28, went to Eckerd in Lancaster to get a prescription for an anti-rejection drug for her kidney transplant...
Eckerd didn't have enough of the steroid, prednisone, so a technician called a Lancaster CVS store to fill the prescription, according to the suit. But a miscommunication between the two stores resulted in Phillips being told to take 1250 milligrams a day of the drug for three days rather than 250 milligrams, the lawsuit said.
After taking too much of the steroid, Phillips is unable to use dialysis. Plus, she cannot have a third kidney transplant...
Eckerd, which has asked the judge to put the judgment aside, argued during the trial that Phillips was to blame for the problem.
"Any injuries or damages allegedly sustained by Plaintiff were due to and caused and occasioned by Plaintiff's own negligence, gross negligence, recklessness, and wantonness," Eckerd wrote a court filing.

The Blame the Victim legal strategy of the pharmacy obviously did not work at trial. I think the jury had little trouble spotting where the gross negligence, recklessness and wantonness resided. My experience in the representation of patients who have taken the wrong drug or wrong dose of a proper drug due to a pharmacy error is that Blame the Victim must be in the official defense guidebook. Probably under the heading If You Have No Other Defense, Try This.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bob Carroll

"Stop Me Before I Kill Another Infant With Another Heparin Overdose"

Bob Carroll — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 06:33:42 GMT

I wasn't very far into my legal career when I realized that some of the medical errors I was reviewing seemed to be repeat performances of earlier errors by the same provider or, at least, by other providers in the same medical community.

Administering an adult dose of Heparin to an infant is the type of error that should only happen once in the history of a hospital. But, here we have the incredible news that the same error occurred at the same hospital five years ago. Is there anything we can do to keep this hospital from killing infants?

Three infants have now died as a result of this repeated stupidity.

Methodist Hospital Admits To Heparin Overdoses Five Years Ago

WISH-TV uncovers the fact that this was not the first time Methodist Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit accidentally overdosed small children with Heparin. It happened five years ago to two children in the pediatric intensive care unit. WISH-TV reports:
As four children recover from a medicine mix-up, Methodist Hospital officials admit to previous Heparin overdoses. The six newborns that received overdoses of the blood thinning drug Heparin weren't the first to receive that kind of an overdose.
Hospital president Sam Odle says it happened in the pediatric intensive care unit of the hospital back in 2001. At that time, two patients received the wrong dose of the drug.
Jim and Chere Mayes say their son, 18-month-old Aaron Mayes, was one of those patients. The boy was given an adult dose of Heparin when he was being treated for brain cancer in 2001.
The Heparin was used on Aaron and another pediatric patient to keep their I-V lines from clogging. Aaron and the other child who was given a Heparin overdose recovered after being given an antidote.
The parents of one of the children overdosed five years ago were assured by the hospital that steps were being taken to ensure the mistake was not repeated, but those steps didn't stop it from happening again.
UPDATE: Tragically, news comes that a third infant who was accidentally overdosed succumbed last night. That brings the death toll to three. Three other harmed infants have managed to survive.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bob Carroll

Why Would Similar Packaging Be Used For Adult And Infant Doses Of Heparin?

Bob Carroll — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 20:01:53 GMT

Can anyone tell me why the adult dose and the infant dose of Heparin would be packaged similarly? Pharmacies have enough trouble with drugs having similar names. For example, Topamax is confused with Toprol. I would think good practice would require the packaging of adult and infant doses of any medication to be as distinct as possible. But, that is just the opinion of an attorney who has seen the results of drug confusion, misfilled prescriptions, and prescription errors for over 35 years.

Two Preemies Die Following Apparent Drug Overdose

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Officials Indianapolis Methodist Hospital say two premature infants died after receiving adult dosage of blood thinner.
Methodist CEO Sam Odle says six babies in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit received an adult dose of Heparin.
Two of the babies died, and one may undergo surgery tonight at the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
The other three are in serious condition at Methodist.
Heparin is used to prevent blood clots and keep preemies' I-Vs from collapsing.
But Odle says the drug comes pre-mixed and the adult dose and infant does are packaged similarly.
Pharmacy technicians apparently put the wrong vial in a computerized drug cabinet, and nurses then gave the wrong dose to the babies.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bob Carroll

Toddler Killed By Prescription Error - Billboards Roll With The News

Bob Carroll — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 08:41:59 GMT

A misfilled prescription has caused the death of a 2-year-old child in Texas. The parents have turned to our civil justice system and to a billboard company as part of their effort to prevent future such tragedies. From The Brownsville Herald article:

Toddler's death prompts public message

As the rolling billboard remained momentarily idle on East Van Buren Street Friday afternoon, motorists slowed down to read the message next to the photo of a smiling pigtailed toddler cuddling a puppy.

"Cardinal Health Pharmacy killed this child by giving her the wrong medicine," the billboard reads.

The photograph is of 2-year-old Alyssa Renee Rodriguez of Harlingen who attorneys claim died at the negligence of Cardinal Health 109 Inc. and two of its employees when she was given the wrong medicine for toxic lead poisoning.

Alyssa Renee Rodriguez was admitted to Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen in 2005 for treatment of toxic lead poisoning and was prescribed edetate calcium disodium. She instead was given edetate disodium, which caused her to suffocate, according to a personal injury and breach of contract lawsuit filed on the behalf of the toddler's parents, Diana Alcala and Richard Rodriguez.

The girl's parents hope to prevent other families from experiencing their heartache and view the billboard as a public awareness campaign.

The family had wanted to erect stationary billboards along roadways in Cameron County, but a temporary restraining order was issued by Cameron County Court-at-Law Janet Leal prohibiting stationary billboards from being installed or parked near Expressway 77/83 or Business 77.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bob Carroll

Pharmacies Must Do More Than Slide Pills Into Bottles

Bob Carroll — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:14:48 GMT

When a prescription for 30 days of painkillers is refilled by a pharmacy at less than 10 day intervals, what is going on? For one thing, it is likely that the patient is abusing the medication. For another, the pharmacy may become liable for harm caused by the overuse of the drugs. The Miami Herald reports on a decision of the Florida Supreme Court recognizing the legal responsibilities of pharmacies.

Supreme Court allows drugstore lawsuit

The Florida Supreme Court allows two Broward pharmacies to go to trial for filling prescriptions that allegedly caused a waitress to die of a drug overdose in October 2002.
The lawsuit focuses on whether Your Druggist and The Medicine Shoppe should have stopped filling scripts for addictive pain medication for Gail Powers, a waitress who died of a drug overdose at 46 on Oct. 21, 2002.
Michael Jackson, executive vice president of the Florida Pharmacy Association, said, ``We've been watching this case very closely.''
While some view pharmacists as merely pill counters, Jackson says the profession has standards of conduct and responsibilities to patients that go beyond simply sliding tablets into bottles.
``We're examining the Supreme Court's rulings. We're not so sure that this ruling actually changes anything that pharmacists are supposed to do. The regulations as written for pharmacists show there's an obligation to fulfill certain responsibilities.''
In one instance, [according to the lawsuit], a pharmacist gave Powers a 30-day refill on an addictive pain medication only four days after she received another 30-day supply.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bob Carroll

Medication Errors High In Radiology Departments

Bob Carroll — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:22:08 GMT

Radiology Departments in hospitals seem to have trouble avoiding mistakes in medications according to the Bonita Daily News:

A trip to the radiology department for a diagnostic test or procedure, such as an angioplasty or MRI, may be riskier than once thought, based on findings of medication errors connected to radiology departments.
Patients are at greater risk for a harmful medication error during a radiological procedure than they are when a medication mistake happens elsewhere in the hospital setting, according to an analysis released Wednesday by United States Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit Maryland-based group aiming to improve patient safety.

Medical malpractice can occur whenever and wherever care is being provided by a careless medical provider.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bob Carroll