Florida Death from Prescribed Methadone

Florida has passed legislation known as "tort reform" which places limits on what a person can recover in a medical malpractice case. For example, the statute sets out who can claim a loss for the death of a person, and what kinds of losses can be claimed. Funeral expenses are recoverable, as is the wage loss to the heirs of the deceased. But what if the person who died had no children and no spouse? What are the losses? His lost wages are not recoverable, as no one was depending on his income. His funeral expenses are recoverable. His parents can claim a loss for his society and companionship. But the statute caps the amount of money that can be awarded for this loss. A mother called me yesterday to tell me that she has contacted law firms who have refused her case because her son who was given a drug overdose in a hospital had no heirs or spouse and the case "just wasn't worth it." If there is no consequence to medical providers who cause the death of a patient, will the medical providers change their behavior? How can the loss of a human life be "just not worth it?"

Oxycodone Dosing Error

I got a call a couple of weeks ago from a grieving father. He found his 27 year old son dead in his bed one morning in February. His son had earlier that day been to a new doctor for his chronic back pain, and the doctor had prescribed 120mg of oxycontin /oxycodone without any information from the young man that he could tolerate this high dose. The labelling for oxycontin describes a starting dose of 10 mg. The cause of death has been ruled oxycodone toxicity.

The Label on the Pill Bottle

Terry Paul Smith, a 46-year-old roofer, suffered from a disorder of the peripheral nerves (neuropathy) in his back and legs, which kept him in chronic pain. He took Oxycontin and Neurontin, but he disliked the way it made him feel, e.g., making him sometimes "drop out" in the middle of a conversation. After he complained about the pain medications' side effects, his doctor changed the prescription to methadone. The doctor wrote a prescription for Terry to take four 10-milligram pills, twice a day. Terry filled the prescription at a local Walgreen's pharmacy in Jacksonville, Florida. The label on the pill bottle directed Terry to take four tablets "as needed for chronic pain," and did not mention any limits on the frequency. Terry took the pills for the first time on July 23-24, 2001. Within 36 hours, Terry was dead. The autopsy found toxic levels of methadone in his blood. The pharmacist's error to "take as needed" rather than take "twice a day" increased the risk of Terry's death. Now Terry's widow, Pearl Smith, is pursuing a lawsuit against Walgreen's. A company spokesman says Walgreen's has spent $1 billion over the last decade on pharmacy safety systems, safety training and technology. Walgreen's filled more than half a billion prescriptions in the last fiscal year.

This overdose death illustrates the importance to discuss the doctor's prescribing orders with her and check her prescription carefully against the label on the bottle, especially for a new medicine. Read an informed consent story, or read more from the source article by Kevin McCoy in the USA Today of Nov. 2.