Manitoba Parents Demand Pharmacy Changes After Daughter’s Overdose

A Manitoba couple is advocating for enhanced safety measures in pharmacies after their daughter experienced an overdose from medication dispensed at a Shoppers Drug Mart. The pills given to the girl contained a dosage of 20 milligrams, ten times the prescribed 2 milligrams. “This isn’t just a ‘my bad scenario’, this is a bigger situation,” stated Kevin Barkley, the girl’s father. His daughter’s health crisis has prompted calls for immediate reforms in pharmaceutical practices.

The incident occurred earlier this month when a family friend picked up the medication from a Shoppers Drug Mart located in Winnipeg’s Dominion Centre. On August 13, 2023, the friend administered one of the pills to the girl, who subsequently became lethargic and “blacked out” for most of the day. The following morning, after taking a new pill, she vomited.

Concerned, her mother, Andrea Thidrickson, received a picture of the pill from the family friend and immediately recognized the potential danger. “I just panicked, my heart started racing,” Thidrickson recounted. “The dose was much higher than what it should have been.”

Thidrickson contacted both the Manitoba Poison Centre and her daughter’s pediatrician, who advised her to take the girl to the hospital without delay. “That’s when it got pretty scary. All I could think about was, ‘is she going to be OK? That’s my baby’,” she said. Upon arrival at the Children’s Hospital within the Health Sciences Centre, medical staff confirmed the overdose. With the medication already in her system for over 12 hours, the only course of action was to monitor her until it cleared. Fortunately, the girl made a full recovery.

Both parents expressed their outrage at the pharmacy error. “It makes me sick to my stomach and a little bit angry too, because it just shouldn’t have happened,” Thidrickson said. A medical report indicated that the girl had normal vital signs and neurological function, but she required hospital observation before being released.

Despite her recovery, the experience left the girl fearful of taking the medication again, leading her pediatrician to approve her discontinuation of the drug. The situation highlights a significant concern regarding medication safety, as the couple reports receiving only “blank apologies” when they initially contacted Loblaws Ltd., the parent company of Shoppers Drug Mart.

After publicly discussing the incident, Loblaws and the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba responded, offering apologies and stating that an investigation was underway. A spokesperson for Loblaws emphasized that the company “takes this matter very seriously” and confirmed that corrective measures have been implemented at the pharmacy to prevent future errors. However, specifics about these measures have not been disclosed.

The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba mandates that changes must be made following medication errors to reduce the chances of recurrence. According to the latest data from a national repository, Manitoba pharmacies reported 1,348 medication incidents between October 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, with nearly two-thirds occurring during the preparation and dispensing stages. Of these incidents, 230 involved incorrect dosage or medication frequency.

Barkley is pushing for pharmacies to enhance their workflow, advocating for additional verification steps to ensure prescriptions are filled accurately. “There were so many avenues where this could have been caught,” he noted, pointing out that the error could have been prevented at multiple points in the process.

“This was blatant neglect,” Barkley added. “They should be double-checking to see who this medication is going to, and that dosage should have never been given to a child.” The couple is committed to submitting a formal complaint to the College of Pharmacists and continues to seek systemic changes to safeguard against similar incidents in the future.