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As I mentioned before, I took Derek to the doctor last Thursday and he had an ear infection. I vaguely remember having a short conversation about Amoxicillin last time and since it worked he was going to prescribe it again. Later that evening Kevin picked up the Rx from our local pharmacy.

The bottle looked a little different and this time it was white color instead of pink, however, I just figured they flavored it for us the first time and didn’t this time. The first 4 letters on the bottle were AMOX, so why would I not think it was amoxicillin.

Over Friday and Saturday Derek had awful diarrhea, which made me think that he wasn’t just taking amoxicillin, so on Sunday I called the Pharmacy to see if it was different then what he was on last month. The pharmacist said it was different and this one is a mixture of amoxicillin and something stronger. I remember that Sophia had a similar reaction when she had taken it.

I think I’ve already mentioned that the awful diarrhea had caused an even more awful diaper rash, which hasn’t allowed much sleep in our house. However, on Monday Derek slept most of the day and was very lethargic, so I took him into the after hours clinic. We of course saw a different doctor, but the first thing he noticed was that the prescription had been taking was not the one the one the doctor had ordered. He explained that it is in the same family, but since the amoxicillin worked the first time for Derek there was no reason to move him to something because of these types of reactions.

So after a couple of days, I finally got in touch with the pharmacy manager who agreed that they did give him the incorrect medication. He apologized and gave me a refund of my $10 co-pay. He also asked if there was anything else they could do…

What do you say to that…I mean this little mistake has caused Derek so much pain and suffering. We have gone through numerous diapers and ointments and it still doesn’t seem to be getting any better. However, had he had a third ear infection, he probably would have been on it anyway. Then again, this is a pharmacy and I would expect pharmacists to have very minimal room for error in what they do.

Please chime in and let me know what you think, I know there are a few pharmacists that read my blog…how often does something like this happen? I mean, I know I make errors in my job sometimes too, but numbers don’t cause diaper rash and lack of sleep.

I guess the moral of my story is to pay very close attention to what the doctor is prescribing and compare it to what you receive. Since this has happened to us, I’ve talked to many others who have similar issues, with even worse consequences.