Crime & Safety
Pharmacy's Prescription Med Mix-Up Sent Woman to Hospital: Lawsuit
A woman claims she overdosed on her thyroid medicine because Walgreens screwed up.
A woman claiming a medication miscalculation landed her in the hospital is suing Walgreens.
An attorney representing plaintiff Ginger Joseph filed the lawsuit in Will County court.
The suit claims Joseph's doctor called a prescription for the thyroid drug liothyronine in to the Walgreens on Lily Cache Lane in Bolingbrook on May 10, 2011.
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But instead of providing the prescribed dosage of liothyronine, the pharmacy gave Joseph "one thousand times greater than the dosage prescribed" by the doctor, the lawsuit said.
When Joseph took the medication, she "suffered thyrotoxicity causing severe injuries requiring in-patient hospitalization, and including pain and suffering, increased heart rate palpitations, tachycardia (and) severe fatigue," leaving her "disabled for a long period," the suit said.
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According to the website Drugs.com, symptoms of a liothyronine overdose include diarrhea, fast heartbeat, nervousness, stomach cramps, trouble sleeping and weight loss. If an overdose is suspected, the site recommends immediately contacting the American Association of Poison Control Centers, a local poison control center, or else heading for a hospital emergency room.
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