Hastings MS sufferer concerned about medicine mix-up

Christine Stark-Botherway, from Hastings, a Multiple Sclerosis suffer, was given the wrong medication.

A Hastings woman who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis is concerned a pharmacy mix-up with her medication could have been life-threatening, and wants assurances it won't happen to anyone else.

Christine Stark-Botherway has had MS for 10 years and, on a recent visit to a Hawke's Bay Hospital specialist, was given a prescription for steroids.

She said she took it to her usual pharmacy to get filled but they did not have the drug available. After phoning around, the pharmacy told her the only place with the medication was the hospital pharmacy.

"I went to ED - they would not at first let me go to the pharmacy as they did not serve the public, but in the end they told me it was alright."

A 20-minute wait ensued while the hospital pharmacist investigated her prescription, unsure the correct medication had been prescribed.

"Usually, I take these steroids intravenously, but the doctor decided to give them to me in pill form this time so I wouldn't have to be admitted."

Eventually, the pharmacist gave her the pills in a bottle, but as she was driving home they rang her to say they had only given her five pills rather than the 25 the prescription was for.

"I went back and they put the pills in another bottle.

"Because I trusted them to get it right, the next morning I took five of the 100mg pills and then looked at the bottle and it said to only take one pill in the morning.

"I got such a shock, and was worried - I rang my normal pharmacy who luckily still had a copy of my prescription and they could confirm that I was right to take the five pills."

She said she was concerned that such mistakes could potentially cost people's lives, and said she had rung the hospital to tell them what had happened.

"It concerns me that they are doling out tablets with no checks on what the pharmacist is doing - anything could be happening to patients."

Hawke's Bay District Health Board chief medical and dental officer Dr John Gommas said the hospital sincerely apologised for the labelling error regarding the quantity of medication and directions for use.

He said the error was quickly identified by the dispensing pharmacist and within minutes of the patient leaving the hospital, she was contacted and asked to return.

"At no time was the patient at harm from the medication dosage or quantity dispensed."

The DHB was also sorry that the patient had the added inconvenience of needing to return to the hospital, but it was important she had the correct quantity of medication.

"The DHB acknowledges that while the pharmacist verbally instructed the patient on the changed dosage, the label was not updated, which created avoidable confusion."

He said Stark-Botherway had been in contacted regarding her complaint and that the DHB would keep her fully informed on an investigation process that had begun.

This situation followed a case last month when a one-month-old baby was given methadone by mistake at a Hawke's Bay community pharmacy.

At the time a local pharmacist speaking anonymously said at a guess that mistake could have been made when transferring the medication, and provided the wrong bottle.