Pharmacy mix-up sends man to hospital

SEFFNER, Fla. - Bridget Greene is still caring for her very sick son Alex. She says following a hospital stay the 21-year-old picked up a prescription. But after taking the pills Tuesday he got violently ill.

"I looked at the bottle that morning, and said 'who's medicine is this?"

Bridget says their local pharmacy in Seffner gave her son two bottles of prescription pills that belonged to someone else. One for was for pain, the other a muscle relaxer.

"He mixed two narcotics and it tore up his stomach," said Greene.

Benjamin Benoit runs Medicine Shoppe International in Pasco County. It's not the pharmacy where this mix-up took place. But he says mistakes can happen, especially at pharmacies with a large number of customers.

"It's hard to remember each patient that you get," said Benoit who has decades of experience.

Beniot says carefully look over the bottle. And anytime you pick up a prescription make sure the pharmacist confirms your name and even your address. Although he says sometimes because customers are sick or distracted they may say yes to the wrong information.

"Even with a good system there are things that slip through the cracks," said Benoit.

Greene says she does put a lot of blame on the pharmacist because her son showed his driver license and gave his date of birth. But she says her son is also at fault. "He should have paid attention to that bottle."

Greene says the pharmacy that gave her son the wrong prescription is cooperating and taking responsibility, even offering to pay medical expenses. At this point she doesn't plan on taking any legal action.
 

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Pharmacy mix-up sends man to hospital