Mislabeled Prescription Leads to Death of 4-Month Old Baby in UK

United Kingdom—Abbie Jones was born with Down’s Syndrome and a hole in her heart. She had problems breathing and keeping her food down and was reliant on the direutic Furosemide to help her with those problems. Her mother, Maxine, was given a prescription for the medication with a label instructing her to give Abbie two 5 ml doses each day. However, Abbie’s prescription should really have been for .5 mls twice a day. Sadly, Abbie died after ingesting the medication twice at home, and twice while still in the hospital–10 times the correct dosage.

Receptionist Julia Dransfield, the individual responsible for ordering the incorrectly labeled medication, typed the wrong information into the computer. When the computer printed out the prescription, it also had a safety warning that flagged the mistake. Sadly, Dransfield overrode the warning, and presented the prescription as a repeat to the doctor, so the doctor did not bother to double-check the medication dosage either.

Abbie was admitted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital on May 1, 2006, suffering from dehydration and septic shock and died on June 3^rd. A hearing is now being held to further investigate her death. According to the forensic pathologist who spoke at the hearing, the incorrect dosage could have caused Abbie’s death and certainly contributed to it.