CVS Pharmacy complaint alleges a dispensing error before a patient’s adverse reaction and gastrointestinal injury
The complaint alleges that a CVS pharmacist dispensed the wrong medication to a patient picking up a hospital-discharge prescription. The pharmacist gave her Minocycline instead of the prescribed Macrobid without offering counseling on the medication. She developed cramps, burning sensations, heart palpitations, sweating, nausea, and disorientation almost immediately after the first dose. She took a second dose the next morning, then went to urgent care due to the severity of her symptoms. Her doctor and the pharmacist confirmed the dispensing error, and she later returned to a hospital for continuing symptoms. She was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis and required months of treatment from gastrointestinal, allergy, and other specialists.
Overview
This page concerns a public complaint alleging that a CVS pharmacist dispensed the wrong medication to a patient, causing an adverse reaction and gastrointestinal injury.
Chronology
The complaint alleges as follows:
- The patient was discharged from a hospital on April 30, 2022, with a prescription for 100 mg of Macrobid.
- She dropped the prescription at a CVS Pharmacy on May 1, 2022, and the pharmacist dispensed the wrong medication around 11:00 a.m.
- At 5:00 p.m. that day she took the wrong medicine, Minocycline, and soon had cramps, burning, palpitations, sweating, and nausea.
- After a second dose on May 2, she went to urgent care, and both her doctor and the pharmacist confirmed the dispensing error.
- On May 4, 2022, she returned to a hospital for burning sensations, palpitations, and breathing problems.
- She underwent an upper endoscopy on June 2, 2022, and was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis.
- Over the following months she was referred to gastrointestinal, ENT, nerve, and allergy specialists, and received iron infusions for nutrient deficiency.
Alleged failures
The complaint alleges the following failures:
- The pharmacist did not offer counseling before dispensing, a duty the complaint says O.C.G.A. § 26-4-85 imposes.
- She dispensed Minocycline instead of the prescribed Macrobid without catching the error.
- The complaint alleges that proper counseling would have caught the dispensing error before it reached the patient.
- The complaint alleges that CVS Pharmacy, Inc. and CVS Pharmacy, LLC are vicariously liable for the pharmacist’s conduct under respondeat superior.
- The complaint pleads negligence per se, negligence, medical malpractice, imputed liability, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It seeks punitive damages and attorney’s fees and attaches an expert affidavit under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1.