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CVS Prescription Errors

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It's estimated there are as many as 7,000 deaths annually in the United States from incorrect prescriptions and pharmacy regulators say the problem is getting worse as the number of prescriptions increases and the number of pharmacists decreases.

But surely a big company like CVS has a way to reduce the number of errors to nearly zero? We'd like to think so but the accounts we hear aren't very encouraging. In addition to the general mishaps below, we have a growing collection of consumer complaints about potentially serious errors including wrong counts, wrong dosage, the wrong drug and mistaken identity. The service pharmacy patients and their caregivers receive also leaves a lot to be desired.

John of Hampstead NC (02/22/06)
On several occasions recieved a prescription for a controlled substance that was missing pills. When I confronted the pharmacy manager she stated that 2 pharmacists counted the prescription. I find it hard to believe that not only one person but 2 people can not count to 30? This has happened at other CVS pharmacies in the past.

Aneeta of Englishtown, NJ February 8, 2006

Aneeta of Englishtown NJ (02/08/06)
My son had a tonsillectomy surgery on Monday Jan 23rd . I had taken the prescription from this CVS store in Manalapan. On the prescription it said the dosage is 2.5 tea spoon. So, I gave my son 2.5 teaspoon every 4/5 hrs. which was a much higher dose then the doctor prescribed. I called the CVS that same night  about this after one dose and the lady assured me that they will fix this first thing in the morning so I was staying safe by giving him much less dose though in pain.

Nobody called next morning or afternoon that day and even after that I wrote the complain on the net they wrote me after 2 days and the guy from cvs called calling himself a supervisor and it seemed he was fed wrong information so he said he will call me after a through investigation. Anyway after a call and mail back and forth on 02/06/2006 I get a call from their research department to settle this case with 1500 in pain and suffering and added clause that in future if my son has problem with this issue i can't sue them.

From the beginning my intention was not suing but fixing and accepting the error and I wanted them to be extra careful in future.

Jennifer of Phila, PA January 18, 2006

Jenniferof Phila PA (01/18/06)
My 16-month-old daughter was given zantac instead of zyrtec. She was vomiting the entire night before the error was found. My husband missed a day of work without pay to stay home with her the next day. Daycare had to be paid for her even though she missed the day.

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