A Western Cape woman, who is suing Clicks for R5.9m after she was dispensed the wrong medication and “nearly bled to death”, has been accused by the retailer of also being negligent by failing to check she had received and had taken the correct medication.
In opposing the litigation, Clicks is arguing that its customer had a duty to check the medication that was dispensed to her, reports Mail & Guardian.
Joy Vorster (32) had gone to the Edgemead Shopping Centre Clicks on 14 October 2013 to collect Xatral, a medication prescribed after a routine haemorrhoidectomy.
But instead, her attorney Henry Shields said, the pharmacist handed her Xarelto, a blood-thinning medicine that prevents clotting.
After taking the medication that evening, she told the Mail & Guardian, her stomach “made an awful sound”.
“When I went to the bathroom, I was horrified … There was blood everywhere. It looked as if a vein had burst inside me. I contacted the emergency room of a local hospital who told me I needed to check in.”
Vorster, who was bleeding profusely from her rectum, was advised by a sister on duty to call her parents to say goodbye before going into surgery as her life was in danger.
She said she was slipping in and out of consciousness as the bleeding continued, drenching her body and the bedding, before she finally passed out.
When she came out of surgery, she said her surgeon told her he had never seen a patient bleed so profusely.
“He didn’t know what had caused it. He performed a colonoscopy, but couldn’t see anything, as my insides were filled with blood.
The bleeding continued after she was discharged but eventually stopped. However, she developed post-traumatic stress disorder and started having nightmares.
Vorster said her surgeon detected the error when she took him the prescription and the medication she had been given at Clicks.
She went to the store to complain and the manager logged the matter, but blamed her trauma on the fact that she had disclosed she had suffered from an eating disorder as a child, claiming this predisposed her to trauma.
What followed was an uphill battle with Clicks to compensate her for the R800 cost of the various medications she bought that day and for her mounting medical bills.
Now, more than 10 years later, she is still fighting to resolve her R5 902 878.04 claim for loss of income, trauma and other damages.
Her attorney argued in court papers that Clicks “had a duty of care to all members of the public who purchased pharmaceutical products … and, in particular, a duty …to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the products supplied would reflect the products prescribed”.
“Such duty entails the implementation of systems … in accordance with professional standards, as well as common sense precautions and cross-checking methods, to eliminate errors.”
He said the incident was caused “solely by the negligence of the pharmacist” or other employees.
“He failed to supply the product Xatral as prescribed … and in error, supplied Xarelto. He failed to implement such necessary safety and cross-checking procedures.”
Clicks’ attorney Julia Penn said that while it admitted the employee who dispensed medication had worked for it at the time, it had “no knowledge” regarding incorrect medication being dispensed and ingested.
“It is admitted that the defendant (Clicks) has a duty of care to …the public .. .to take reasonable steps to ensure the products supplied would correctly reflect the products prescribed,” she said.
She admitted that products supplied in error could cause injury but denied the pharmacist had failed in his duty of care to cross-check and ensure the correct medication was handed to Vorster.
“The defendant denies that it is liable to the plaintiff for the amounts claimed, alternatively for any other amount,” Penn said.
She added that if the court found that Clicks was negligent, Vorster had also been negligent in that she “failed to take reasonable care and caution to ensure she collected the correctly prescribed medication”, and when ingesting the medication, to ensure she had taken the correct medication and dosage that her doctor had prescribed.
She asked the court to dismiss Vorster’s claim with costs, and alternatively, that any damages awarded “be reduced by her degree of contributory fault”.
The parties are awaiting a trial date for the matter to be heard.
Asked why Clicks did not resolve the matter before it got to court, Clicks Retailers head of healthcare Rachel Wigglesworth, said: “Unfortunately, we do occasionally make mistakes and when a dispensing error occurs, we take responsibility for our actions.
“In this case, after a dispensing error, we tried to resolve the matter by presenting a reasonable offer based on the specific facts of this case and guided by legal precedent. However, we unable to reach an agreement with the customer.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Pretoria teaching hospital rife with paediatric medication errors
US former nurse convicted in lethal drug error sentenced to three years probation
NHS prescription errors contribute to 22 300 UK deaths a year
Meds mix-up blamed for US patient’s hospital death