The Houston medical malpractice attorneys at Painter Law Firm filed a wrongful death lawsuit against CVS Pharmacy, Inc. and a local OB/GYN doctor, concerning the tragic and needless death of a 37-year-old wife and mother of two.
In August 2012, this lady saw an OB/GYN because her monthly cycle had lasted for 14 days, and it was heavy and unusually painful. The OB/GYN prescribed Lysteda, a medication that prevents blood clots from breaking down, which the patient then filled at CVS Pharmacy, Inc.
The manufacturer of Lysteda warned doctors on the drug label: Patients should not take Lysteda if they are using birth control that contains estrogen and a progestin.
Three days later, the lady called her doctor to let him know that she was still heavily bleeding. Despite the drug warning, the doctor prescribed Femcon Fe tablets, which contain estrogen and a progestin. Our OB/GYN expert says that this violated the standard of care for patient safety.
CVS filled the Femcon Fe prescription for the patient, without calling the prescribing doctor or the patient.
Our expert OB/GYN witness also says that when the doctor wrote the prescription for Femcon Fe, and CVS filled it, they placed the life of this patient in grave danger.
The standard of care for patient safety requires pharmacies to have warning systems in place to prevent pharmacists and staff from filling prescriptions for medications that are unsafe for a patient to take during an overlapping time period. And pharmacists needs to heed those important warnings.
By filling the prescription on that date, our expert witness says that CVS created a life-threatening problem for the patient. This type of inattentiveness by CVS is alarming because it could be repeated and threaten the life of any child, man or woman who has prescriptions filled at a CVS pharmacy.
Not knowing of the danger of taking the two medications together, this lady followed the instructions provided by her doctor and CVS, and took both of them. Then, just like the Lysteda label warns, she developed dangerous blood clots in her legs.
A few months later, this patient had a total laparoscopic hysterectomy at Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital. During the surgery, one or more blood clots became dislodged, travelled to her lungs as a pulmonary embolism, and caused her to experience respiratory distress and die on the operating room table.
This poor lady needlessly died in the prime of her life, at 37 years old, and left behind a devoted husband and two young sons.
If you or someone you care about has been harmed by medication or prescription errors by a doctor or pharmacy, called the Texas medical malpractice lawyers at Painter Law Firm for a complimentary consultation about your potential case.
