Prescription Errors can have serious side effects

Do you check your medication when you collect it from the chemist, or simply rely on the Pharmacist? Prescription mistakes are just one type of work our solicitors undertake and have led to serious side effects for some of our clients when they’ve been double dosed or given the wrong medication.  

One 24 year old female client had a £5,000 settlement when she was prescribed a type of Viagra instead of migraine medication recently.

Her GP prescribed Sumatriptan (50mg) two tablets at the onset of the migraine and two tablets two hours later if it were to persist.  She collected two boxes of pills from her pharmacy with “Sumatriptan” typed on a sticky label attached to the box.  

On Christmas Day she began to suffer with a migraine and so took two tablets in the hope it would go and she could enjoy the festivities.

She began to feel very unwell with nausea and double vision, she felt feverish and was shaking uncontrollably. She had vomiting, palpitations and felt extremely weak, dizzy and disorientated.

After a few days rest and some paracetamol she began to feel a little better and the migraine passed. It was only then that her mother, a nurse, recognised she had been given ‘Sidenafil’ a drug typically prescribed to men for erectile dysfunction.

A check up with her GP confirmed it and our client was found to have low blood pressure. Her doctor was of the opinion that this was a direct result of taking Sildenafil but that there should be no long terms effects. 

Subscribe to our newsletter

Please note that the information and opinions contained in this article are not intended to be comprehensive, nor to provide legal advice. No responsibility for its accuracy or correctness is assumed by Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers Ltd or any of its members or employees. Professional legal advice should be obtained before taking, or refraining from taking, any action as a result of this article.

This blog was posted some time ago and its contents may now be out of date. For the latest legal position relating to these issues, get in touch with the author - or make an enquiry now.