Mother Notices Prescription Error for Son
According to the National Institute of Medicine medication errors kill about 7,000 people a year. Even though most errors are attributed to the patients’ mistake about 13 percent, approximately 900 people, die every year from prescription errors where the wrong medicine is dispensed or in the wrong dose. Dr. Deborah Nazdam, the chairwoman for the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention said children are especially vulnerable to medication errors. “It's not just because they can't always tell you what's wrong,” she said. “They have a much more severe response to overdoses. Their kidneys aren't as developed and they can't metabolize medications as easily as adults can.” The Cox family avoided the proverbial “bullet” when they noticed that a prescription filled for their 2-year-old son Andrew for seizures looked wrong and that was only because the mother Jennifer, also takes the drug. "I noticed that the pills were extremely large," Cox said. "Then I looked at the bottle and saw that the dosage was 100 times more than it was supposed to be." Their pediatrician wrote a prescription for a 2 mg dose of Lamictal, but it was filled with 200 mg tablets. According to the drug's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, an overdose of Lamictal can lead to a coma, decreased level of consciousness, delayed heartbeat, increased seizures or death.
