Walgreens law suit over warfarin

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Wow! I guess the lesson there is, "know your prescription"! Money won't do her much good now.
 
Wow!!!! The pharma tech that filed her 1mg Rx with 10mg tabs of Warfarin was a "19 year old student whose prior job was cleaning a movie theater and serving popcorn". Says a lot for the quality of providers that we HAVE to trust. I've taken warfarin long enough to know the different colors of the tablet strengths but there are other Rx's that I take from time to time where I depend on the pharmacy to dispense the correct drug in the correct dose. Sure makes a person wonder.....??????
 
Actually, it wasn't warfarin that killed her.

Here's more about the story:

Well, not directly but a major contributing factor.

I doubt this could happen to someone familiar with warfarin.

Right, but if you keep get the wrong prescription strength from the start you probably don't know any better - I assume that the tech entered the wrong dosage in the computer so that when it was refilled, the mistake would continue. A lot of people don't know what dosage of a medication they're supposed to be on until they look at the prescription bottle.
 
This story and too many others like it are the reason I make the pharmacies show me the pill and how to recognize it. I forget which one it is, but one of mine prints a description of the med and attaches the description to my prescription. Plus, sites like WebMD has pill descriptions.

I wonder who is responsible for not monitoring her INR?
 
Hippely took her prescription for 1 milligram tablets of Warfarin to Walgreens at South Florida Avenue and Shepherd Road, but was given 10 milligram tablets of the drug by a 19-year-old pharmacy technician with little experience, according to a story on ABC's "20/20."

I'm trying to find where Warfarin has anything to do with treating breast cancer. If I were Walgreens, I'd reappeal the case. They are being used as a scapegoat.

Well spank me and call me Sally Sue: Learned something new today.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9459316
 
I was given a booklet like this at the hospital over 18 years ago.
Had that person had the same booklet, or something similar it could have saved her life. But of course she would have had to read it. Some people pay no attention to what they take.
Still use one of those booklets to record INR's as I've done over the years.

Never see anyone except pharmacies filling prescriptions at Kroger.
 

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Well the possiblity also exists that since she was not prescribed the warfarin by a cardiologist but by a oncologist, that doctor either didn't have or didn't give an explanation of the medicine. Remember this treatment was being used off-label. I myself never take any medicine without first reading everything about it. I trust no one
 
You cannot not afford not too. I just had my Diovan HCT refilled. Bottle was labeled 80/12.5's but it contained 160/12.5's!
 
I myself never take any medicine without first reading everything about it. I trust no one

We am the same. Todays medicine comes with plenty info but some people just trash it. Back years before we had computers our doctor gave us a PDR. It wasn't as handy as the internet but it covered all medications.
When I had AVR my wife question every prescription they gave me. The nurses came in the room with the pills she would ask what is it, what is it for and who prescribed it? They soon learn to check with her before giving me anything. :D They also though she had medical training.

A few years ago my cardiologist started me on Gemfibrozil. I asked if it would effect the warfarin. He said no. Well I asked the pharmacies and he said it sure would. Also found the same thing on the internet.
 
How indeed could this happen .........

How indeed could this happen .........

This poses a lot of questions. Many here take 10 mgs a day and need to. Maybe her prescription call ed for more than 1 dose per day. Her doctor knew she was on it--wasn't her INR tested.
It's hard to believe unqualified staff are allowed to fill prescriptions. Walgreen's should be sued--unfortunately the patient's life can't be restored.
 
This poses a lot of questions. Many here take 10 mgs a day and need to. Maybe her prescription call ed for more than 1 dose per day. Her doctor knew she was on it--wasn't her INR tested.
It's hard to believe unqualified staff are allowed to fill prescriptions. Walgreen's should be sued--unfortunately the patient's life can't be restored.

Being she was to take 1mg per day, I highly doubt that they had any reason to test her INR since that wasn't really why she was taking it to start with.
 
My neighbor takes warfarin for a-fib.
Her range is 2.0 - 3.0 and she takes 1 mg per day five days and either 1.5 or 2 mg two days to maintain her range. She seems to be highly sensitive and requires very little to be anti-coagulated.

It is possible the lady in this incident could have been the same. Taking 10 mg instead of 1 mg would be highly dangerous.
 
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