Pregnant Woman Goes to Pharmacy For Antibiotic, Given Abortion Pills Instead. Uh-oh!

Mareena Silva, who's six weeks pregnant, went to a Safeway pharmacy in Denver, Colo. last Thursday to pick up an antibiotic her doctor had prescribed, but the pharmacist made a potentially deadly error.

Silva said the pharmacist at the Ft. Lupton Safeway gave her the prescription of methotrexate. Methotrexate is used in chemotherapy regimens to treat cancer, but it is also used to terminate early-stage pregnancies. After she took it, Silva was nauseated. "I came back and I looked at the bottle and it wasn't my name," she said. The methotrexate was intended for a 59-year-old woman with the exact same last name as Silva's and a similar first name. "My doctor immediately told me to try and make myself vomit to see if I could get the medicine to come back up," Silva said. Silva was then rushed to Platte Valley Medical Center where they gave her charcoal to absorb the drug. "For all this to happen now is really overwhelming," said Silva. "This is my first child, so it's really difficult to deal with."

She's currently being monitored by doctors to make sure her hormone levels are OK. There are three options: she could miscarry, carry the child to full-term with severe birth defects or she could have a happy, healthy baby.

For it's part, the pharmacy says: "We have extended our sincere apologies to the customer, and offered to pay any medical expenses incurred as a result of a prescription error. We are also very concerned about how this happened and we are conducting a full and complete investigation. Safeway has pharmacy systems and processes in place to prevent this kind of occurrence. We have a well-earned reputation for reliably and safely filling prescriptions, and we will continue to work diligently to ensure our procedures and policies are being followed at each of our pharmacies."

At this point, Mareena is not in the forgiving stage. She says, "sorry is not going to cut it. I'm going to have to deal with this for a long time."

Is that thundersnow we're hearing -- or is that the sound of malpractice attorneys banging on Mareena's door?


source