The pharmacy dispensed my mom a med she is allergic to.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

my mom went to the pharmacy monday after going to her eye doctor and picked up her script. she took the eye drops and her eyes swelled shut. she had no idea why. she called the pharmacy and they mentioned nothing about her being allergic to asprin and she shouldn't have taken it. the pharmacist asked her if anyone talked to her before giving her the med and she said they didn't. she told me if they did tell her it had asprin or nsaid's she wouldn't have accepted it. my mom is allergic to asprin to the point of anaphalyxis. this is all over her chart. when my dad went to the pharmacy never did they mention she shouldn't have taken those drops because they have nsaids in them. the pharmacy asked how bad her eyes are and my dad told them that it looked like he beat her and she had no brusies. my husband had to look it up on the internet and it said plain as day she shouldn't take them because of her asprin allergy. she took benadryl as per her md instructions, and the next day she went back to the eye doctor.

she went to the eye doctor yesterday and they gave her steriod drops and new antihistamine drops. her eyes are so red and sore. i feel so bad for her.

i am just so mad that they didn't bother to call her eye doctor and tell him to perscribe something else. i am also a little steamed at the eye doctor for the fact that this allergy is all over her chart. she had no issues ever since she found out she had this allergy over 15 years ago. now she feels total distrust in her doctor and pharmacy. i really wish our pharmacy had never closed. we had the best pharmacist. i told her to find out where she is working and go there. sad thing is she just updated her allergies a month ago with walgreens. isn't that why they take your phone number to call you and inquire about any issues with perscriptions. i know we all make mistakes, but jeez they should have told her asprin was in them when she called, or when my dad went there. i think a mistake is better if you own up to it rather than try to cover it.

[BroadwayRN, ASN, RN]

I'm sorry that this happened to your Mom. The doctor and the pharmacy both made a mistake. I'm supposing that because it was an eye gtt they didn't give enough attention to it being an RX that someone could be allergic to. Hopefully they've all learned a valuable lesson. I hope your Mom is feeling better soon (((((((Hugs)))))))

[oramar]

You would think a pharmacy like Walgreens would have a system that would raise an objection to a counter indication like that. Strange, bet the script was filled by a tech and the pharmacist signed off on it without checking. That is why the new computer systems that red flag stuff are so important. They really need to look into what happened.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

My mom is feeling better, but her one eye is really sore when she opens it. She is calling coporate tomorrow. You would think both the doc and pharmacist would know better.

[casi, ASN, RN]

I hate to say it, but sometimes patients have to be proactive for themselves. Mistakes can be made on many differently levels.

Next time she gets a new med research it before taking it.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

My mom is usually proactive. Many times she has asked me to check and see if the new med she is given has asprin/NSAIDS in it. She never thought eyedrops would have asprin in them. You would think since the doc and pharmacist had her allergy list in front of them this wouldn't have happened.

But I know first hand that dosen't always happen. I have had to call MD's many times since the pt has an allergy and they perscribed something the pt is allergic to or could potentially react to.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I am more upset that when she called the pharmacy and my dad went there the fact that no one even bothered to mention that the drops had asprin in them. It took my husband looking up the med before they figured out why her eyes swelled shut.

[oramar]

I hate to say it, but sometimes patients have to be proactive for themselves. Mistakes can be made on many differently levels.

Next time she gets a new med research it before taking it.

Sorry, but blaming the patient in this case in not going to wash. Just think if this happened in a clinical situation and you tried to use the excuse "the patient should have checked", how far do you think that would get you? I am aware myself that eye drops have steroids in them but it is a revelation to me that they could have ASA or NSAIDS in them. I am glad I read this post for the safety of my family and myself. I have some people in my family that get pretty bad rashes from ingesting ASA, I don't know if ASA eye drops would bother them and I don't want to find out the hard way.

[tryingtohaveitall]

I wasn't aware eye drops could have NSAIDs or ASA in them either and I have a child w/ a serious allergy. Just for our education, what was the name of the med?

I'm glad to hear her eyes are doing better. That's scary that it happened!

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I'll have to ask her. I can't remember the name right now. I would have never dreamed that eye drops could have ASA/NSAIDS in them.

I am so glad she was able to go to work. My dad is laid off, and she is the only income except for his unemployment right now. My mom is a hair stylist so no work no pay.

[WalkieTalkie, RN]

Clearly, it took a lot of people to mess up before this error got to your mother. The eye doctor, the eye doctor's nurse (if he has one), the pharmacy tech and the pharmacist. The person least at fault here is your mother. It's not her job to try to figure out if she should take a med or not. What if she was illiterate, or at the least, since they are eye drops, you would have expected someone to at least attempt to counsel her at the pharmacy. I would definitely file a complaint with both the eye doctor's office and the pharmacy. They are lucky something more serious didn't happen to her.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

My mom is going to call corporate for Walgreens and file a complaint against the pharmacist. My mom has already complained to the doctor's office. It is now on her chart that she is to have NOTHING with ASA/NSAIDS even if topical or eyedrops.

My mom has told me that the next time she is in the hospital that she wants me or my brother at her bedside to help prevent an error like this from occuring. She would want us to be able to look up any med she is given. She is terrified now of anything new and I don't blame her. Especially since this should have never happened.