Should I expect compensation?

[clevercrow]

This question is from a resident of Alabama. The question concerns a national discount store pharmacy (KMart) who misfilled a prescription potentially causing severe injury or death.

Question:

Recently I refilled my prescription for Zestril (a high blood pressure (hypertension) medication) at my local KMart pharmacy.

A few days later I used the last of the old Rx and opened the new one. The tablets were "different" in color but frequently different suppliers of drugs (generics) will be of different shape/color. I was about to take the first dose but to be safe (since I have poor vision) I got my magnifying glass and examined the tablets. I found the tablets were impressed with the word "Zyrtec" (an antihistamine).

Obviously what had happened is the pharmacists "aide" at the store grabbed something off the "Z" shelf and the pharmacist never did the required double check before dispensing the drug to me.

I confronted the pharmacy with the error and they apologized for the mistake and refunded my money.

I followed up with the regional pharmacy manager and she assured me she had met with the pharmacist and discussed the "gravity of the situation" (her words). She characterized my experience as "unfortunate".

I have a friend who stopped taking his blood pressure medication (on the "misadvice" of his doctor) and suffered a stroke which has left him partially paralyzed, so I know this "mixup" could have resulted in my injury or death.

Do I have a basis to expect compensation for the potentially deadly mistake or do I have no recourse considering that I headed off the danger by being observant myself?

It seems to me the pharmacy's actions were negligent.

Thanks

 

[racer72]

No harm, no foul. Taking the Zyrtec itself probably would not have hurt you, I take it on a regualar basis for allergies. Your potential damage would have been not taking your own prescribed medication. I would suggest using a different pharmacy.

 

[clevercrow]

Your advise was taken immediately. You should be able to trust your pharmacy and when that trust isn't deserved, you take your business elsewhere.

But I would like to probe further on the "no harm, no foul" concept.

Years ago I brought a dishwasher and recently there was a recall because the dishwasher switch after years could cause a fire. Although I didn't personally have a fire, GE provided a rebate opportunity if you purchased a GE dishwasher or a smaller cash amount if you didn't purchase a replacement dishwasher.

Why would they compensate me if not obligated to?

Also, when I was a wee wee tot, my family opened a softdrink bottle (back where there were returnables) and we found "foreign matter (cloth)" lodged in the bottle. The Hires Root Beer company sent a representative to our house and compensated us with free product, and coupons even though we hadn't drunk any of the contents.

I'm not a lawyer... so I'm interested in the "concept" of no harm no foul. Perhaps you can explain further.

 

[Keltia]

Pharmacy Error

clevercrow i am interested in knowing how your situation turned out. i am currently in that same position and am deciding on what steps to take or not take. any information would be helpful right now. thanks.

 

[clevercrow]

The sad truth is that I didn't aggressively pursue this. I stopped using KMart pharmacy of course. But I didn't receive any encouragement to take further action. Since I have no expertice in law, I assumed that when something or someone's actions might have caused harm but didn't you will have a more difficult time being compensated. Perhaps you were not as "lucky" as I and didn't discover the problem right away. I always remember the scene from "It's a Wonderful Life" where Mr Gawer (the distraught pharmacist) mistakenly filled a Rx with the wrong medicine. He was a lot more upset than my pharmacist was. Good luck.