Pharmacy whoopsie.
 

I normally take Ropinirole for bad muscle twitches. Last week I collected a new box from the Pharmacy which came in a slightly different box with a different name on it. Not unusual since every time so far it has been different names, colours and shapes for the tablets.

After 5 days I felt quite unwell and my wife Googled the name on the box. Turns out that Risperidal is not another name for Ropinirole, but is actually a strong anti-psychotic!!!

No wonder I felt a bit off-colour.

The muscle twitches have subsided now I'm back on the right stuff but the Dragons in the kitchen won't stop whispering in my ear. Should I tell the CAA?

:ooh:

Firstly yes you should tell your AME pronto and seek some advice.

Second you should report the medication error or ensure that the pharmacy have reported it. Assuming this is a UK pharmacy they need to report this to the NHS National Reporting Learning System. You may find further advice NPA or on this NHS England PDF here

"To Err is human"...Marcus Talius Cicero.

It seems that the 2 boxes are next to each other on the shelf and that 2 separate employees both signed the label on the box saying that they had checked it before it was given to me. What eventually gave it away was that there were actually 28 tablets in the box but the label said 21 tablets, otherwise my wife might never have looked on Google. Lots of phone calls to the NHS Direct people and a visit to A&E for an ECG. Nothing showed up other than a swollen tongue and a slightly foggy (well, LVPs in force) mind so I should be alright. There was a huge risk of a heart attack due to interaction with other meds that I am taking.

Just goes to show how easy it is for humans to screw up. Perfect example of the Swiss Cheese pieces lining up.

I'll second Daysleeper's advice to tell your AME. He will ask a few questions then hopefully clear you back to fly pretty quickly. Better they ask a few questions now than it come to light later and you get a real reaming.

For professional curiosity / terrifying yourself it's worth looking at Ezdrugid.org.

It may be more hole than cheese. (to quote a recent medical safety paper)

Whatever the name on the box, it should come with an information sheet.


If in doubt, RTFM.;)

Always check your pharmacy refills in whatever way you can find. There are far too many drugs with somewhat similar names. If it's just a jar of white pills, try to identify them, or recheck with the pharmacist.

If you have a choice, "unit dose" drugs are safer -- the ones packed in a blister that is often difficult to extract. The name is usually on the blister pack. That's why hospitals, at least here in US, almost always use them.

WOW !

That's a pretty big mistake. I do hope you have recovered well.

We all make mistakes. It's human nature.

I hope you've fed back what happened to the peep's involved. Obviously some lessons need to be learnt here:-)

Here it is. The names are similar, the box is the same size and shape

That's a first class screw up.

That's a big one and I know of Pharmacists who've been sanctioned for cock ups that bad in the past (wifey worked in a Boots Pharmacy for years). Report it to your GP as well, they need to know about that sort of mistake.

Yeh.... big screw up.

Pencil's have rubbers at their end.

Let's hope we all learn from it, and maybe someone has the foresight to build something into the system to stop it happening again.

Vincristine and all that.