That's just downright scary!! What's worse, is I'm hearing of that happening more and more! And, what's a person to do when they're getting the meds for the 1st time? They have no idea what it's suppse to look like.

wow, that sounds like malpractice. Glad you checked!

pretty scary! some of mine say on the label what they are supposed to look like.

I've had that happen a couple of times. Once the markings on the bottle were correct, but the pills inside were not. They looked very much the same, too.

The other times it was the complete wrong perscription, a medication with a similar name. I noticed the different name on the bottle. I stopped getting my meds filled at a certain store because of the many errors.

Glad you spotted it before it was a problem!

Dances.

My gosh! That really is scary.

My pharmacy always opens each bottle and asks me if they look like my usual pills, which is a good practice.

The pharmacy is overnighting the correct prescription to me, and asked me to destroy the antidepressants. I just looked up how to safely dispose of unwanted meds, and the best way is to have a pharmacy do it. So the next time I'm in town, they're getting a gift from me: 60 capsules.

In tonight's news there was a bit about how our whole medical group is computerized and how the hospital especially has worked to cut down mistakes in both medical staff and meds. If you come in thru ER or even admissions you get a plastic bracelet with a bar code. Before they do anything, they check the bar code and match it with the bar code of either the procedure or meds the Dr. has ordered. they did that with me when I was there in Dec. The pharmacy I go to is super strict on meds. They will even open the bottle if you request it or it is new meds.

Very scary. Good thing you checked.

That happened to me once, only since I had taken the bag with the med out of the store; they wouldn't accept it when I tried to return it. I had to pay for it! I was SO mad.

Wow, Schoolhouse, that doesn't sound right at all! They should be completely accountable for such a mistake.

That is really bad. I know you'll take it back and get it straightened out. In another recent case a pregnant woman was given a cancer drug rather than the antibiotic her doctor prescribed.

This should be a warning to us all to proceed with caution because errors are made. Good for you, Susan, for paying attention.

My pharmacist is very careful. I remember once, I refilled my usual prescription for high blood pressure pills. I picked up the pills from the drugstore, drove home, and the phone was ringing. It was my pharmacist, calling to tell me they were the same "usual" pils but a different color, because they were generic.

Wow! I know there are steps in place for the chain I work for to reduce those types of errors, but sometimes errors do still slip by. I agree it can be deadly to get the wrong meds.

What surprises me is that your pharmacy asked YOU to destroy the meds that were incorrectly sold to you. Instead, they should be sent back to the pharmacy and THEY should destroy them. We send a 5 gallon pail of 'dead' prescription meds to some place every month. I say 'some place' because I don't handle that part so I don't know who gets them..... And no, they're not rebottled. They're destroyed.

DH meds changed often before and after his 3x bypass, and at times are changed due to health problems. Anyhow, I put the old pills/capsules in a baggie with enough water to dissolve it all. Then, after a couple of hours, put them in the trash.

Most areas have locations where meds (prescription and otherwise) can be turned in for disposal. Proper disposal means incineration. Any other method results in the chemicals getting into the soil, ground water, etc.

My community held a medication drop off a few months ago, for the first time. The response was so over whelming that they've decided to do it more often and in more locations.

It's reassuring to know that you always check your prescriptions because obviously we can't just rely on pharmacies to get them right. I've only had that happen once.

It's interesting that they told you to dispose of them. It's tricky because now we're told not to put them in the trash or sink or flush them. In my area we had a one day medicine drop off at several local police stations.

I think pharmacies should be responsible for accepting any outdated or unused medicines that they have sold.

This pharmacy is definitely getting the antidepressants back. I doubt the staff will object, but if they do, I'll leave them on the counter anyway.

Our rural community is lagging behind in things like recycling and environmentally safe disposal of hazardous materials. Wantoretire, good for you for trying. But dissolved meds will still leach out into the ground, and ultimately the water, in a landfill.

Interestingly, the EPA says when drinking water becomes contaminated with prescription meds, the biggest cause is the medical consumer eliminating the drugs in body fluids. I guess pill disposal comes in second because not all that many pills are disposed of. But a lot of people take prescription drugs.

13 yrs ago, I worked for Riteade (originally Payless) I worked customer service 'till the last year and eventually I worked week-end alone with the Pharmacist. Riteade's policy was to get as Rx's done as possible - As a clerk, I had to verify the the RX was right - I had no training and a few gals messed up and let RX go out the door without checking... I couldn't handle the stress and was given a stress related leave of absence which truned into my leaving them... All the big stores care about is getting the RX done and as fast as possible - the pharmasists were not chosen for accuracy - they were using who was available and tht wasn't always the best(we had one who was into his 80's)... Buyer beware and always have the meds checked before leaving the store!!!

I just found out that if you use the telephone system to reorder from our Wal-Mart, it goes to a warehouse in Houston (southern TX)to be filled and is overnighted by truck to our store in Central TX. The turnaround is or has to be quick. They probably have trained pharmacists that do the work but it does make you wonder doesn't it? I suspect that the prescriptions are shipped to a distribution point and then dispersed to the stores.......

Schoolhouse-I would have been on the phone to corporate and also to my insurance company immediately. No way should they get away with that!!!

Forgot to add-a few months ago I cleaned out our medicine cabinet. I found several expired non prescription meds and took them to Walgreen's for proper disposal. They gave me strange looks, but too them. I read in the newspaper you should take them to any pharmacy so the environment is protected. I have some expired Excedrin I just took out of the glove compartment in the car. I'll take them to CVS and see what happens.

On Jan 3 my DH had a seizure, ended up in the hospital for 5 days. I called his neurologist, who told me to take ALL prescription bottles out of the medicine cabinet and take them to our local pharmacy to be destroyed. I did so-believe me, it filled most of a pretty big plastc bag. I feel better having only "current" prescriptions on hand, plus a few over the counter pain pills and such. And a box of band-aids.

This all reminds me of the experience I had when I had foot surgery - after I got home and slept off the anesthesia meds, I decided to cut off my ID bracelet from the hospital. There it was - someone else's name, a 30-something male who had had shoulder surgery - - - and I was a 50-something female. Different doctor, different procedure, different age, different gender! Our last names had the same first TWO letters, but that was all.
I know they do bar codes on the bracelets now, but that sure wouldn't have helped me then! A good thing nothing went wrong. I wonder who had mine?

Recently a woman who was 6 weeks pregnant was given the wrong prescription and took one pill before she discovered it was an abortion pill and not the antibiotic her doctor had prescribed.

It is pretty darned scary. I only take one med, and I make sure it's right but my husband takes more. I'll pass this info off to him.. I read about the pregnant woman getting the wrong RX. She'll live in fear till her baby is born if it doesn't die in the womb.

Scraphappy, I've been to the hospital recently and when they put the bracelet on me, they had me read all the information on it before it was put on me. I think that's an excellent way to ensure you are who the bracelet says you are. When I got into the surgery room (had a cyst removed from my hand), the surgeon who knew me also double checked the bracelet to make sure I was who it said I was. I liked how the hospital made sure to cover their butts from the minute I walked in the door. Canada doesn't have malpractice lawsuits for doctors or hospitals. We have ......... dern, brain fart here..... it goes to court and they all discuss what went wrong and decide how to take steps to ensure the 'accident' never happens again.....

I'm not sure if pharmacists have malpractice insurance though. I know they're heavily insured, just not sure if that's what we call it. Here, the tech fills the prescription and then brings it to the pharmacist who double checks the prescription to what is in the bottle, then sign off on it.

Always count your pills as well. A few months ago I picked up a prescription for 100 pills - they were put in the smallest bottle (thankfully) - sometimes they will put 10 pills in a giant bottle. When I opened the bag at home I knew something was wrong because you couldn't fit 100 pills in said bottle. I was short 30. I called immediately and spoke with the on-duty pharmacist who went and did an audit. Fortunately she agreed with me, otherwise I was going to have to call my doctor as well as the Ontario government health organization responsible for pharmacists. Next up I went to pick up my husband's eye drops. I always get them and 3 different pharmacists have told me very clearly that said drops must be kept in the fridge at the pharmacy and home until first use - and I always show up with my cooler bag. So over I go - they were ready on a Wed. but I picked them up on Sun. The 16 year old cashier got them out of the drawer so I pointed out the obvious and she told me she was certain that I was wrong that the drops would be fine for my husband. I asked her when she received her pharmaceutical degree and demanded to speak with the pharmacist - and that I wasn't leaving the store with said drops. Over came the pharmacist and he agreed with me. I wanted to speak with the pharmacist owner but he was away. On his return I spoke with him - apparently I wasn't the only one having problems and things have tightened up. Problem of course is that prescriptions aren't being checked properly. Next up came a rare prescription for me that I have had before - and I can't use generic anything - allergic to the non-medicinal ingregients. I picked them up and was packing 5 to take with me on a trip for emergency purposes and noticed they were a bit bigger (not good) and a pale pink. So I looked at the presciption sheet that shows the last 20 transactions and sure enough they had given me a generic drug of 250 mg - with one repeat. The prescription was for the name brand drug of 500 mg - no repeats. I happen to know I can't take the generic of this pill, not to mention the lower mg. So I called. I should have known by the total price but I was picking up my Estrogel, my husband's eye drops and had a couple of other things. The owner was there and he was very apologetic and told me to bring them right back and he fixed it - $70 more of course. What is scary is that it was one of the store pharmacists who filled the prescription and my file clearly reads "no generics". Heck I only have 3 prescriptions and only 2 that I take regularly since I am allergic to most things. I am afraid that language is also an issue. You hate to open bottles and examine contents and counting pills on site, but what can you do? I see a lot of people doing that these days. I picked up prescriptions yesterday and did just that - I am so popular with the non-professional staff! - as are other customers. A woman I know took her elderly uncle to the hospital because he could hardly breathe or stand up. He had his pills with him - and because she had filled the previous prescription knew that the colour was wrong. Sure enough they had given him pills that caused his heart rate to slow down. Good thing she took him in. Ontario is really starting to push generics and people have to pay the differential between generics and name brand. The med ingredient might be the same but it is the non-medicinal ingredients that will get you. My husband had major dental surgery yesterday and has to get 2 prescriptions he never takes - only one he has is for his eye drops. I will be looking very carefully at the prescriptions when I pick them up. One is for penicillin - a drug that despite my many allergies I am not allergic to. Go figure. Each month I return his leftover eye drops to the pharmacy (the preservative is only good for 30 days so a new bottle is needed) and I also take in my empty Estrogel bottles every 2 months - but always to the pharmacy where I buy them. Cdn. pharmacies are not the same as in the U.S. If you have your prescription at one Shoppers Drug Mart you have to go to that drug store - can't go to another one and request your prescription if your store is out of stock. Shoppers Drug Marts here are franchises.

I work for Shoppers Drug Mart. Why can't you transfer your prescription to Safeway or any other pharmacy? And were all your prescription problems with SDM? There are so many safeguards to prevent errors. A 16 year old kid was working in the pharmacy? I've worked for 3 Shoppers and that has never happened in any of them. Actually, we've never had a 16 year old working in the store itself. We only hire 18 and over.

I'm going to ask on Monday at work if we can transfer to any drug store and not just to another Shoppers. I know once you transfer your RX to another store, you can't transfer it back, or to yet another store. And you can't transfer a narc RX no matter what.