Year : 2011, Volume : 11, Issue : 1
First page : ( 40) Last page : ( 41)
Print ISSN : 0972-5687. Online ISSN : 0974-083X. Published online : 2011 June 1.

A Case Due to Illegible Prescription

Asicioglu Faruk^1,*

¹Assoc. Prof., Chairman of 5^th Committee, Council of Forensic Medicine, Ministry of Justice, istanbul, Turkey

*Email: fasicioglu@hotmail.com

Received:  2  September,  2010; Revised:  25  January,  2011; Accepted:  15  February,  2011; :  25  March,  2011.

Abstract

A case due to illegible prescription is presented, occurring in a 52-year- old man with a history of duodenal ulcer admitted to hospital with epigastric pain. He was prescribed Lansoprazol (Aprazol tablet) and Calcium Magnesium Carbonate (Rennie suspension), but Naproxen Sodium (Apranaks tablet) was given him instead of Lansoprazol. Shortly after starting medication, he was diagnosed upper gastrointestinal bleeding and complete recovery was reached in a short time. After discharge from hospital, the patient filed a lawsuit against the pharmacy in the criminal court of first instance. At the end of trial, the court's decision was both the pharmacist and his assistant were mainly responsible for detriment of plaintiff's health. They should have contacted with the prescribing doctor if any doubt existed about the name of drug that was being prescribed. According to the decision, the doctor's responsibility was smaller than the others.

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Keywords

Medical malpraxis, illegible handwriting, misreading prescription.

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