3:10pm Saturday 11th October 2008
By Will Carson
A PREGNANT teenager feared for the safety of her unborn child after a pharmacy gave her the wrong drugs.
Sixteen-year-old Crystal Cooper was left doubled up with stomach and chest pains after the drug she thought was a gentle painkiller turned out to be one used to treat severe pain.
An investigation has now been launched and the pharmacy has apologised for the mistake.
Crystal, who is six months pregnant with her first child, had been prescribed the codeine-based drug Cocodamol to help ease back pain.
It was only when the drugs made her vomit that she checked the advice slip and realised, to her horror, that she had actually been taking the high-strength Solpadol.
The painkillers, issued to her by Day Lewis pharmacy in Marchwood, had even been given to her in a Cocodamol box.
Crystal said: “After taking the painkillers my head started to feel funny so I lay down on the sofa in the hope that I’d feel better.
“I had this searing pain in my chest which spread to my stomach. I was so worried about what was happening.
“I’m six months pregnant, this is my first child, and I just kept thinking the worst.
“All I could think about was my baby girl – I was petrified something might happen to her.”
Crystal’s partner Darren suggested driving her to the hospital but she was in too much pain to get into the car so an ambulance was called.
The paramedic managed to calm Crystal and stayed with her until the drugs wore off.
Crystal, of Parkside, Hounsdown, added: “Obviously it was just a mistake by the pharmacy but it can’t be allowed to happen again – mistakes like that just can’t be made.
“Thankfully both my baby and I were OK but it could easily have been so different.”
Day Lewis pharmacy superintendent Peter Glover, responsible for legal, ethical and practice advice in the company’s 165 national chains, apologised for the mistake.
He said: “There are very strict practices in place for the dispensing and checking process, however on this occasion there was a simple human error.
“We take it very seriously and we apologise completely for the mistake.
“The pharmacist involved is incredibly upset about what happened.
“We will do all we can to stop something like this happening again.”
A spokesman for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said that an investigation into the incident would now be launched.
A spokesman from the pharmacy at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton said: “High doses of codeine can cause respiratory problems.
However, the stronger dose of codeine taken on this occasion would not really have been any danger to the mother or her child.”
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