In a shocking case of medical negligence, a woman in the US undergoing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) was given abortion medication by her local pharmacy, which resulted in the death of her two unborn babies, Fox News reported.
''They just killed my baby. Both my babies, because I transferred two embryos,'' Tamika Thomas told 8 News Now. As per the outlet, the Las Vegas resident -- a mother of four, wanted to have one more baby in 2019 as she and her husband wanted a big family. She and her husband opted for IVF after she had her Fallopian tubes removed following two ectopic pregnancies. Notably, IVF is a complex procedure where fertilised embryos are implanted into the uterus to achieve a successful pregnancy.
As part of the procedure, her doctor prescribed a vaginal suppository in place of the injections. However, when she went to North Las Vegas CVS, pharmacy technicians gave her Misoprostol instead, which is used for ''medication abortion.'' However, Mrs Thomas experienced severe cramping after taking the wrong medication.
"My cramping went beyond that," she said. "It was extreme. It was painful," she told 8 News Now.
After the harrowing incident, she filed a complaint against the CVS Pharmacy with the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy. Investigation revealed that the pharmacy had made a series of mistakes. First, they couldn't read the doctor's handwriting, so they guessed the prescription and gave her Misoprostol. Further, the pharmacists also didn't explain how to take medication and what to expect.
Reviewing the medication is a standard protocol according to a report in Pharmacy Times.
''It (the error) would have been caught because then they would have had to have the medicine in their hand. And they would have said, ‘Oh, this is Misoprostol or Cytotek, have you taken this before?'', Ms Thomas said.
As a result, the two pharmacists were fined and put on probation for a year, while the pharmacy was given a maximum fine of $10,000 when the board met in September, 8 News Now reported.
In their statement, the pharmacy said, ''We've apologised to our patient for the prescription incident that occurred in 2019 and have cooperated with the Nevada Board of Pharmacy in this matter. The health and well-being of our patients are our number one priority and we have comprehensive policies and procedures in place to support prescription safety. Prescription errors are very rare, but if one does occur, we take steps to learn from it in order to continuously improve quality and patient safety.''
However, four years later, Ms Thomas said she is still reeling from the loss and said the apology will ''never be good enough."
"All I got was sorry," she said.
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