Pregnant woman given abortion pill by mistake

This is awful - that poor mom. I really hope her baby is okay...

http://www.cafemom.com/group/107984...Mistakenly_Gives_Pregnant_Woman_Abortion_Pill

T. LUPTON, Colo. -- She is six weeks pregnant and when she went to the pharmacy to pick up an antibiotic her doctor had prescribed, the pharmacist gave her an abortion drug by mistake.Mareena Silva might lose her unborn child because of the prescription drug error, which occurred last Thursday."I took it because I thought it was mine," Silva said.

Click to expand...

There's also a CNN video:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2011/02/07/pkg.pregnant.abortion.pill.kmgh?hpt=C2

When I'm prescribed a new medication I always research it first on the internet.(not wikipedia) As a matter of fact I have several medications I have never taken because of the side effects. Even if the baby lives what kind of medical problems will this child suffer the rest of it's life. There is going to be one heck of a lawsuit, I'm betting.

Oh my gosh!!! How horrilbe. Praying for this family.

This is extremely sad. I wish she would have checked if it was her medication first before she took it. I really hope the baby will be fine.

Legalmania: I agree I think I see a lawsuit in the future also.

Same last name. Human error. SafeWay apologized.

Are you kidding me? How many people have the last name Silva that use that Pharmacy? What are the chances they screwed up many more times?

This poor woman. Can you even imagine the rest of her pregnancy how she will worry?

That's a nasty drug. Here's an overview of it on Wiki. Methotrexate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methotrexate

OMG I heard about this the other day. So so sad!!!! I def see a lawsuit in the future, and rightfully so! Let this be a reminder to all of us, you gotta check things for yourself. Cannot trust someone else to do it, always read labels!

Some years ago, a nurse almost gave me 10 times the amount of a typhoid vaccination (the live form) than prescribed. The only reason why it was prevented was that I was bored waiting in the examination room and read the entire box and insert which said that a shot should be .01mg. I then overheard the head nurse tell the junior nurse to give me 1.0mg. Had I not read the material I would not have known this was wrong and would not have had the opportunity to say "um. you know that is supposed to be 0.01 mg, right?" A doctor later told me that 1.0mg would have probably killed me. I pay much more attention to vaccines, medications, and dosages every since then. Honest accidents can be fatal.

I would be so angry, and yet too terrified to even move. Pregnancy is supposed to be a happy time, and all this woman can do is wait, worry, and pray. I feel so sorry for her, and I hope that she and baby are able to have normal lives after this.

Cypros said:

Some years ago, a nurse almost gave me 10 times the amount of a typhoid vaccination (the live form) than prescribed. The only reason why it was prevented was that I was bored waiting in the examination room and read the entire box and insert which said that a shot should be .01mg. I then overheard the head nurse tell the junior nurse to give me 1.0mg. Had I not read the material I would not have known this was wrong and would not have had the opportunity to say "um. you know that is supposed to be 0.01 mg, right?" A doctor later told me that 1.0mg would have probably killed me. I pay much more attention to vaccines, medications, and dosages every since then. Honest accidents can be fatal.

Click to expand...

Scary! You had angels intervening for you that day, thank God!

I am normally against the instant response of suing whenever something happens but in this case I hope she is the new owner of Safeway.

dairygirl said:

i am normally against the instant response of suing whenever something happens but in this case i hope she is the new owner of safeway.

Click to expand...

Exactly!

That's scary......at a time when she should be her happiest she has to fear for her baby's life

at my drug store, they always check my address before handing me the prescription, not to mention asking if I've taken the drug before (even when my file clearly shows I've taken it for years) and asking if I have any questions or would like to speak to a pharmacist

beyond that, the label on the bag clearly indicates my name, address and the name of the prescription; inside the bag are instructions that the drug store prints out for every prescription; on the bottle is my name, name of the prescription as well as dosage instructions

do pharmacies in Colorado do these things?

LadyL said:

at my drug store, they always check my address before handing me the prescription, not to mention asking if I've taken the drug before (even when my file clearly shows I've taken it for years) and asking if I have any questions or would like to speak to a pharmacist

beyond that, the label on the bag clearly indicates my name, address and the name of the prescription; inside the bag are instructions that the drug store prints out for every prescription; on the bottle is my name, name of the prescription as well as dosage instructions

do pharmacies in Colorado do these things?

Click to expand...

Once a month, I fill my prescriptions at the same pharmacy. Often the person helping me is the same person as the last time I was there. Every time, they verify my name and birthday, and they don't ask me if I've taken it before because it's a repeating refill.

I have an extremely common name, so I do tend to double check things. Once, while at my bank they pulled up someone else's bank account information, because she had the same name as me.

They then ask for my birthday again, when they ring it up. I guess they have to enter something to make sure they ask. I'll admit that I get a bit lax on my part about double checking because I do it so often. This case is a wake up call to pay attention.

Drugs are so darn scary. For an abortion pill, it should have a very large red warning on the bottle -- not to mention an automatic consult with the pharmacist. Reminds me when I was in the hospital for my hys (gone bad). STOOPID nurse had me on morphine, but they also had the button I could push. SO I was given morphine automatically, and unknowlingly boosting myself. Well when my respiration went down to 7 breaths per minute did they realize - OOPS. I was almost trached -- but instead willed myself to stay up for 24 hours (after a 10 hour surgery) and had to force myself to breath.

I am so sorry for what this poor woman is going through. And I, too, hope she owns Safeway when she sues them!

MOO

Mel

mgardner said:

Drugs are so darn scary. For an abortion pill, it should have a very large red warning on the bottle -- not to mention an automatic consult with the pharmacist. Reminds me when I was in the hospital for my hys (gone bad). STOOPID nurse had me on morphine, but they also had the button I could push. SO I was given morphine automatically, and unknowlingly boosting myself. Well when my respiration went down to 7 breaths per minute did they realize - OOPS. I was almost trached -- but instead willed myself to stay up for 24 hours (after a 10 hour surgery) and had to force myself to breath.

I am so sorry for what this poor woman is going through. And I, too, hope she owns Safeway when she sues them!

MOO

Mel

Click to expand...

Good point, Mel! A large warning would have gone a long way to avoiding this. That and a couple of seconds for the pharmacist to give instructions to the patient. I mean, I would think that would be SOP with a drug like this. It's not like someone would be on an abortion pill regularly. Most of the time your patient is not going to have experience with it.

LadyL said:

at my drug store, they always check my address before handing me the prescription, not to mention asking if I've taken the drug before (even when my file clearly shows I've taken it for years) and asking if I have any questions or would like to speak to a pharmacist

beyond that, the label on the bag clearly indicates my name, address and the name of the prescription; inside the bag are instructions that the drug store prints out for every prescription; on the bottle is my name, name of the prescription as well as dosage instructions

do pharmacies in Colorado do these things?

Click to expand...

Exactly. Walgreens knows who I am and I still get the Name? Addy? Need to talk to the Pharm.? etc... and I've also taken the same meds for years.

I feel beyond horrible for this woman and besides hoping the best for mom and baby, I hope a GOOD lawyer steps aboard.

It simply shouldn't have happened, but since it did, I know I am the wiser for it. I send my prayers for a healthy pregnancy.

Tuffy said:

Good point, Mel! A large warning would have gone a long way to avoiding this. That and a couple of seconds for the pharmacist to give instructions to the patient. I mean, I would think that would be SOP with a drug like this. It's not like someone would be on an abortion pill regularly. Most of the time your patient is not going to have experience with it.

Click to expand...

Also, how many pills were in that bottle? How many does it take?
Antibotics are usually 1 twice a day for a week so 14 would be the correct amount.

I feel the need to offer a bit of correction. Keep in mind that I am very pro-life. Methotrexate, the drug this woman was mistakenly given, is NOT an abortion pill. It is an oral chemotherapeutic agent. It is used to treat many cancers and even diseases like Crohn's disease. Chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells like cancer cells, or the lining of the stomach (crohn's). Well, a tiny embryo is comprised of very rapidly dividing cells. As a consequence, this drug given especially in EARLY pregnancy would have DEVASTATING consequences for the unborn child. That said, Methrotrexate is not and has not been used as an abortifacient pill. It IS used in cases of ectopic pregnancy to prevent rupture of the fallopian tubes. But in ectopic pregnancy, the child would not be viable, and in fact, the risk of fallopian tube rupture is a medical emergency that could have fatal consequences. All that said, the prescription was filled CORRECTLY for the patient who was supposed to be taking the Methotrexate. It was a 59 year old woman. Maybe she has Crohn's, or lymphoma, or leukemia. Who knows. But for darn sure her prescription should NEVER have been dispensed to the wrong patient. The 5 Rs of medication indicate that the drug should always be for the RIGHT patient, the RIGHT drug, the RIGHT dosage, the RIGHT route, the RIGHT time of day. So it was a royal screw up with the first R. Chances are the pharmacist did not dispense it, but rather an unlicensed technician, maybe someone making $7 bucks an hour who can't be bothered with such details. I hope and pray the woman and her baby are unharmed and that the person, who carelessly made the mistake, will find healing.
My original point, though, is that it is being sensationalized by saying "Pregnant woman given abortion pill" when that is not, in fact, what happened. She was given a chemotherapy drug which causes miscarriage. Funny how the media, usually so pro-Abortion, changes their tune when the child is "wanted."
ETA: There was a case a few years back of a married doctor whose lover/affair got pregnant. He wanted her to abort and she wouldn't. He then coaxed her to a romantic dinner he made for her, laced with...METHOTREXATE. She did lose her baby but he gave her buttloads of it.