A family’s 11-year-old dog was accidentally given the wrong prescription. The dog did not survive and the person accused of making that deadly mistake is a pharmacist from a national chain store. A catastrophic mix-up of medication is rare but it happened to Mugsy the Boxer this summer.
The pharmacist should have given Mugsy his regular medication, Aminophylline, a bronchial inhibitor for his enlarged heart. However on June 12th , the pharmacist accidentally filled a prescription for Amitriptyline, an anti-depressant. Mugsy took the medication until the bottle was empty and then when the prescription was refilled he was once again given the correct medication. Within 90 minutes of taking the now correct pills Mugsy was breathing heavy and his body started to swell. .
Mugsy was rushed to his regular vet and then referred over to the local emergency hospital. His vet realized what had happened and did not have the ability to treat him. The next morning, while still at the emergency hospital receiving acute care Mugsy went into cardiac arrest and died.
Company executives had this to say:
The mistake was not caught during our quality assurance process. We have extended our sincere apologies to the Moretti family and in August we offered to compensate them for veterinary and other expenses.
Not every case of dogs or cats getting the wrong pills or an overdose of pills is like this one. Sometimes it can happen that they are prescribed too much of a medication or will steal a pill out of the bottle or the bottle will spill when you are giving it to them and they lick it up. Other times pets get into their owners medication. Anytime a dog or cat gets medication they should not have it should be treated as an emergency and the pet should be taken directly to the vet so they can be treated and or observed. Accidents happen and we need to be aware of what we are giving our dogs.
Anytime you have a question about the pills you are given for yourself or your pet you can visit rxlist.com enter the imprint code on your prescription pills and make sure the name of the medication matches with the code and color of the pills.
Oh my, how very tragic & sad.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. ♥
~Pamela
thank you so much, we miss our boy