Should I make a claim ?

mickbrush

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I went to the Doctor Thursday with a sore eye, he said it was an eye infection and gave me a prescription for chloramphenicol eye drops.

I then went to a very well known chemist to get my prescription and was served by a young what seemed to be polish or Slovakian pharmacist all good to this point. Went back to car opened the bag which was sealed read the instructions on the sticker on the box simple enough one drop in the eye four times a day. Popped one drop in my eye and it instantly started to burn, my eyes were streaming with tears and the pain was unbelievable. Luckily I had a bottle of water in the car and poured it into my eye.
When I could finally see again which was about 15 mins later I took a closer look at the bottle to see in tiny writing EAR drops external use only.

If you that is bad it got worse!

I went back into the store and asked the pharmacist to check the prescription as my eyes were burning she checked and said yes that is correct, check again I insisted and once again she confirmed all was correct. I then pointed out that these were ear drops. The pharmacist gasped and took the package from me and proceeded to change the ear drops for the correct eye drops saying that it would be ok as its only the same but stronger then swiftly moved on to the next customer.

This did not seem right to me so I asked to see the manager I told him I was very worried with the burning in my eyes and that I was returning to see my doctor and that he should investigate he agreed to do so and took my details.

The Doctor washed out my eye and told me to repeat this every hour for the next 8hr to ensure dilution of the substance and he said that the pharmacist had given me very poor information that could have caused complications.

Thanks to anyone reading all this as it is quite long but I real do not know what to do next should I go back to the store and complain again or go seek legal advice.
 
it depends on your outlook on life

1 if you want cash/compensation then go to one of these no win no fee "lawyers"

2 if you want the pharmacist sorted so they cant do it again or are reprimanded etc then try and find the governing body and find their complaints procedure.


The professional body is The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

Complaints specifically is http://rpsgb.org/protectingthepublic/complaints/


Much more important than any of that ....how is your eye now ?
 
Since the pharmacist would seem to be a danger to the public, I would certainly want to register a complaint with the appropriate Health Authority.

Whether you want to claim compensation is entirely up to you.
 
it all could of gone so wrong, did they have a good grasp of english? the person who served you? do you think it was lost in translation? that caused the mistake...........

like nara said, deffo report it, then up to you if you want compo.
 
I would report them.

I hate the compensation culture we have nowadays, to much like the usa :(
 
agree with others
it needs to be reported as next time it could be far worse

we are all human and mistakes happen but working in this line of work things need to be tripple checked
 
agree with everyone else, defo report the pharmacist, also send a strong letter to their head office.
 
I would report the pharmacist, as for making a claim I don't think you have much of a case.

How is your eye now
 
The thing is I have dealt with complaints from customers in my previouse managment role and also in my own business which I started this year and find the only way people take things seriously is to use a solicitor. With most of my time and money tied up in the new business it seems the easyest way to put pressure on them to take action would be to go to one of these no win no fee type solicitors who specialise in such things.

I personaly dont care for compensation but that could be donated to a charity. At the end of the day this could have been really bad if this had happend to one of my kids I would be going bolistic and would have probably taken this head on and ensured heads rolled but as it was just me I see this as being my only way to ensure a satisfactory outcome.
 
The thing is I have dealt with complaints from customers in my previouse managment role and also in my own business which I started this year and find the only way people take things seriously is to use a solicitor. With most of my time and money tied up in the new business it seems the easyest way to put pressure on them to take action would be to go to one of these no win no fee type solicitors who specialise in such things.

I personaly dont care for compensation but that could be donated to a charity. At the end of the day this could have been really bad if this had happend to one of my kids I would be going bolistic and would have probably taken this head on and ensured heads rolled but as it was just me I see this as being my only way to ensure a satisfactory outcome.
If your not bothered about money just phone newspaper up and get it exposed that way something will happen!
 
Chronoman I did consider doing just that but dont think that it will get much of a response from them they would just take a defensive stance with no real action.
 
Went back to car opened the bag which was sealed read the instructions on the sticker on the box simple enough one drop in the eye four times a day.

Why would ear drop instructions advise you to put them in your eyes?

:err:

You didn't actually read the instructions, did you. ;)

Glad you weren't permanently harmed, and you should definitely take it further. Not sure about a compensation claim, but you should report it to the powers that be, it could, in the long run save someones life.

What was the drug called?
 
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Why would ear drop instructions advise you to put them in your eyes?

:err:

You didn't actually read the instructions, did you. ;)

What was the drug called?

Youve missed it witchy
The pharmacist prints the instructions from the prescription on a label and put it on the box.
Correct label wrong box m8
 
Youve missed it witchy
The pharmacist prints the instructions from the prescription on a label and put it on the box.
Correct label wrong box m8

No Ian, I know what he meant. :)

Maybe it's just me being paranoid with medicines etc, but I never put anything near my body until I've read the wee leaflet that comes with stuff, I even check the expiry date. :)

I'm used to poor service at pharmacies, I've had loads of stuff mislabeled over the years, so I check everything now.

I bet mick will be doing the same from now on, lol
 
Have to agree with witchy here , always read the leaflet before using any medication and its quite obvious this wasnt the case , no grounds for a claim tbh .
 
Have to agree with witchy here , always read the leaflet before using any medication and its quite obvious this wasnt the case , no grounds for a claim tbh .

Yes there is
The pharmacist was neglegent by puting the label on the wrong box
 
Yes there is
The pharmacist was neglegent by puting the label on the wrong box

I'd actually say it was a wee bit more serious than that.

He put the label on the wrong drug.

If it was a multipart prescription then, although still serious, it's not the end of the world, as there is a good chance you would spot it beforehand. But to get the prescribed drug entirely wrong especially when it was only 1 item is worrying.
 
@ witchy too bloody right i will be more carefull in the future ive got a big yellow blister inside my lower eyelid as a reminder lol.
 
Drop Eder a PM, he's Pharmacist I think, he should be able to give you good advice on where to go from here/what to do for the best...
 
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