Medication mistake fatal for Fla. Woman

Medication errors continue to be a problem in the United States, with simple human error often producing grave consequences. A 77-year-old Florida woman went into a Walgreens drugstore five days before Christmas in 2009 with a prescription for potassium but was instead given a slow-release morphine by the pharmacist. Within five days she became very ill and died 16 days after she had started

Medication error threatens baby’s health

Stories of medication errors are common, but one account from Colorado is making headlines. The error occurred in a Safeway drugstore when a pharmacist gave the wrong drug to a pregnant woman. The mixup, according to a news account, occurred because two women had similar names – Mareena Silva and Maria Silva. Instead of getting antibiotics, Mareena Silva was given methotrexate, a potent drug used

Woman given wrong prescription, developed illness

An Alabama woman dropped off a prescription for a painkiller at her local Rite Aid pharmacy and instead got a high dosage prescription of steroids. Not only was the medication wrong, the steroid dexamethasone is often used to treat cancer and can have severe side effects. The patient, arthritis sufferer Reva Tosh, also was given more than seven times the usual dose of the drug, which she