Troubleshooters Investigate Pharmacy Prescription Errors
If you fill prescriptions at your local pharmacy, listen up. The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters are looking into prescription- and pharmacy-related medical mistakes investigated by the state.
Hundreds of thousands of prescription medications are filled at pharmacies all across Connecticut every week, but what happens when there is something wrong with the pills prescribed to you?
There are roughly 3,500 practicing pharmacists statewide and the Troubleshooters have learned less than three dozen pharmacists have reached settlement agreements with the Department of Consumer Protection in recent years.
Prescription errors impact families and pharmacies and West Hartford Attorney Kerry Wisser has worked with a number of affected individuals in his 30-year career.
“This one relates to a newborn baby. Newborn babies often suffer from something called thrush, which is just an infection in their mouth, It’s a yeast type of infection from breast feeding,” Wisser said.
Wisser said his client wasn’t given the prescribed liquid steroid needed to make her baby healthy.
“In this instance, the pharmacy gave the medication to the mother of a liquid Phenobarbital. Phenobarbital is utilized for epilepsy or other seizure disorders, so the baby was given that for, I think a period of seven days, twice a day. The baby was very lethargic; the baby had constipation and other issues like that,” he said.
Fortunately, the child is OK.