Check your Meds!

[Bertie Horak]

I'm really mad as hell. This happened yesterday, but I'm struggling to get it out of my mind.   

My Mom (73) gets chronic medication from the De Beers pharmacy which get posted to her after a doctor sends through a script.  A week ago she received her new medication.  The name was different, and thankfully she called me before taking it.  I asked her to bring the tablets to me yesterday (they came through to my practice - my Dad needed a dentist.... another story).

To my absolute horror, they sent her the wrong medicine.  They gave her medication which is meant for extreme diabetes, and the dosage was astronomical - for somebody who has a very big glucose problem!  If she had taken the medication, she could have gone into a hypoglycemic coma in her sleep, and nobody would have known why.  She has absolute normal sugar levels, I tested it myself 2 weeks ago.

I managed to reach the pharmacy (I think they're in Centurion) and the pharmacist I spoke to told me the writing was not very clear, that's what they thought it said!!!!!   BULL !!!!!!  I know what the doctor prescribed, and the name of the meds is far from the one they sent.  And in any case, who gives the pharmacist the right to decide on the treatment... if not sure, phone the doctor who wrote the script!  The ICD-10 code on the script also states that she has a totally different condition than diabetes.

I should take it further, but maybe I won't.... it might just push my own blood pressure through the roof!

So......    PLEASE MAKE SURE ABOUT THE MEDICATION YOU TAKE, AND THE DOSAGE AS WELL!!!  I'm so glad my Mom decided to phone me first!

[Barbara Eia (Brownless)]

Berie know where you are coming from...the same happened to my dad after he had a double bypass and valve replacement...medication they sent in his weekly script was wrong...they used to send him the weekly tablets in a box with the days and all the tablets he had to take for that day ...ie Morning Afternoon and evening....the tablets which he had to take three times a day had all the wrong med in them ...didn't realise untill after the third day he was very ill and because most of the tablets where small and white never thought anything of it untill i had to take him to an emergency doctor... we went through all the tablets and took the numbers on the tablets and found they had put in 4 of the same tablets which he should only of had one of......too this day I always check his medication for the week....I rang his doctor and made a formal complaint and then complained to the pharmacy...He now has a new pharmasist...it happens so quickly and who knows if i had not done anything what could of happened...

[Bertie Horak]

@ Barbara - Scary!  Both cases could easily have cost us our loved ones.

[Barbara Eia (Brownless)]

It  sure could of ....You can never be too careful with tablets expecially with our folks they are not as young as they used to be....

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

This is truly scary!

Something like that happended to a guy here in Kathu about 2 years ago....  also got the wrong meds (same as your mom, Bertie) and he went into a sort of coma due to his blood sugar levels dropping way below normal levels...  lucky his wife took the meds with to the hospital and he recovered, but...  again, ...  how do you as a novice in the world of doctors fight against something like this !!!   

[Bertie Horak]

I decided it was bull, and that I should take it further - if they cant do the job, they shouldn't be there!  Unfortunately all my efforts to contact the right people ended fruitlessly.  Then, out of the blue, my absolute hero of today contacted me via PM - SKINNY, you're a star!  She gave me a few numbers and names, and wow, the right person picked up the phone, horrified because my Mom's case isn't the only one - there's other horror stories  as well.

I'm glad to say, thanks to Skinny, this will be handled by the right people (intelligent, compassionate, definitely capable, fed-up with the incompetent fools, and honest), and I feel much better now.  Who knows, we might just prevent something terrible to happen to one of our own! 

[SandyB]

@ Bertie .. this be the problem nowadays .. big groups have good insulating  medium ,, thats so them on the top of the heap are not bothered ... sadly so they better realise should  be  , their clients generate their huge salaries ...  but most prefer to  live  in the ivory tower ..  most contact points are  call center , junior people who  are trained to fill in the blocks  and have limited authority ..even  middle management seem to be blocked .. trust me on my experience with Taking  Liberty  of Life  insurance co ... even  via their websites they have  insulators .. I was lucky to surrepticiously and  I did not do it be given a number of  head honcho .. even then his PA tried to bat me off .. I told her i was determined so she better give me her email adress  after  getting her name .. and told her  i was also bombing  their contact  points  with  my car poster campaign pics on the hour including any local  affiliates and overseas affiliates , so I would be expecting a response ASAP ... it worked .. but then our Kaye is a determined  girl and has  done battle before and  got the contact details ... glad she could help you ...