A woman who fell pregnant after years of IVF has been left devastated after a drug mix-up. Photo / AP
A woman who fell pregnant after years of IVF has been left devastated after a drug mix-up. Photo / AP
A woman has been left devastated after she finally fell pregnant following years of IVF treatment, only to miscarry after a pharmacy accidentally gave her abortion pills.
Timika Thomas, who lives in Las Vegas in the US, had always hoped to have a big family and was excited to welcome another baby with her husband.
However, her journey through motherhood hasn’t been smooth sailing, reports news.com.au.
After suffering a complicated ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilised egg is implanted and grows outside of the uterus, doctors had to remove Thomas’ fallopian tubes, which meant the mum couldn’t fall pregnant naturally ever again.
Thomas still, however, wanted to grow her brood and made the decision to spend thousands on IVF treatments in the hope of falling pregnant again.
Finally, Thomas’ dream came true and she found herself in the early stages of pregnancy after having two embryos transferred. Her doctor advised her to take some fertility medication to help her body throughout the treatment and ensure an easy pregnancy.
Finally, she found herself in the early stages of pregnancy after her doctor transferred two embryos.
However, when she took her script to the CVS pharmacy, they accidentally supplied her with abortion tablets instead of medication to help with her pregnancy.
The medication, called Misoprostol, is used to terminate pregnancies by contracting the uterus and expelling the foetus, causing a miscarriage.
Thomas said she took two of the required doses as recommended by her doctor, but very quickly realised that something was not right.
Even though Thomas was no stranger to cramping throughout her IVF treatment, the pain was unlike anything she had felt before.
“I started cramping really bad,” Thomas told News8.
“My cramping went beyond [what I expected]. It was extreme. It was painful.”
The medication, called Misoprostol, is used to terminate pregnancies. Photo / AP
She became worried about how severe the pain was that she was experiencing, so she looked at the tablet’s packet for details.
After researching the name of the medication to shed some light on her painful cramps, what she found out made her blood run cold: she had taken abortion medication.
“The first thing I read is [that] it’s used for abortions,” she recalled.
“[I thought], ‘They just killed my baby’. Actually, both my babies, because I transferred two embryos.”
According to official filings obtained by News8, the serious mistake happened when one technician incorrectly thought she knew the generic name for the brand prescribed by the doctor, which resulted in her typing the wrong medication name into the prescription form.
What she found out made her blood run cold: she had taken abortion medication. Photo / Getty Images
One pharmacist did not realise the error, while another failed to counsel Thomas when she came to pick up her medication.
“It [the error] would have been caught because then they would have had to have the medicine in their hand,” she said.
“And they would have said, ‘Oh, this is Misoprostol or Cytotek, have you taken this before?’ And I would have said, ‘No’.”
Thomas filed a complaint with the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, which met in September 2023.
After pouring her heart out in her testimony and detailing her horrific experience, which happened back in 2019, the two pharmacists were fined and had their licences suspended provisionally.
One pharmacist did not realise the error, while another failed to counsel Thomas when she came to pick up her medication. Photo / Meridith Kohut The New York Times
According to pharmacy board documents, if both of the pharmacists avoid disciplinary action over the next 12 months, pay their fines and take continuing education credits, their licences will be reinstated.
“We’ve apologised to our patient for the prescription incident that occurred in 2019 and have co-operated with the Nevada Board of Pharmacy in this matter,” CVS shared in a statement.
“The health and wellbeing of our patients is our number-one priority and we have comprehensive policies and procedures in place to support prescription safety,” they said.
“Prescription errors are very rare, but if one does occur, we take steps to learn from it in order to continuously improve quality and patient safety.”
The pharmacy board fined CVS USD$10,000 ($16,982), which is the maximum penalty possible by statute, for its “vicarious liability of the pharmacists’ errors”.
Both pharmacists apologised for their mistakes.
“It’s a human error,” one testified. “It was just a human error and I’m so sorry.”
However, Thomas says the apology doesn’t rectify the heartache and sorrow she continues to feel after all of these years.
