Woman's hair falls out after pharmacy blunder

A woman collapsed and needed hospital treatment after she was given HIV medication instead of drugs for arthritis.

Tracey Sunderland's hair began falling out in clumps as she suffered a severe reaction because of the mix-up by the Unichem pharmacy at LynnMall in West Auckland.

The pharmacy has apologised and blamed human error for the mistake.

The 35-year-old went to the pharmacy with her usual prescription for Methotrexate, a drug she uses to treat the arthritis she has suffered since childhood.

But the mother of two was instead given Thioprine, an immune suppressant to prevent rejection of organs after transplant and also to treat HIV patients.

The mix-up comes less than three months after a 2-year-old nearly died when a Palmerston North pharmacy dispensed the wrong drug for her.

Mrs Sunderland, who is a medical laboratory scientist, says she knows the risks and seriousness of such cases.

"Someone has made a horrible mistake and a simple apology is not good enough."

Mrs Sunderland picked up the drugs at the beginning of last month and took what she thought was her usual weekly dose. The next day she felt dizzy and nauseous, but did not link that feeling to the drugs she had been taking for 18 months.

The following week she took another dose and vomited for several days. Her hair began falling out and she suffered severe cramps.

She attempted to take her dog for a walk but collapsed and was taken to hospital. It was only when her husband collected the drugs to show them to a doctor that the mistake came to light.

Mrs Sunderland had been taking 300mg of Thioprine - a huge dose that legitimate patients usually spend months working up to.

"It could have been much worse," she said. "People need to be aware that this happens and can be very dangerous."

LynnMall Unichem confirmed a dispensing error was made and apologised for any distress caused.

It said a human error was made in the final checking stage of the dispensing process.

"LynnMall Unichem has subsequently reviewed these procedures and changed the way it stores its medicines to help prevent a similar incident occurring in future," said a spokeswoman.
The Health and Disability Commissioner has been notified.

In January's prescription blunder in Palmerston North, toddler Emma Leader was supposed to take a cough medicine but was given a mislabelled anti-psychotic drug. Only hospital intervention saved her life.

The Pharmacy Council estimates that New Zealand pharmacists process about one million prescriptions a week, or 50 million a year.

Steve Wise, president of the Pharmacies Guild of which over 700 pharmacies are members, said the error rate was very low.