It often seems that we read about pharmacies providing patients with the wrong prescriptions, the wrong dosages or the wrong instructions on a semi-regular basis. Fortunately, the majority of these stories have relatively happy endings in the sense that the victims don’t suffer permanent and debilitating injuries because of these otherwise preventable medication errors.

However, there are those instances where prescription errors by pharmacies result in very real, very painful and very permanent injuries to customers whose only mistake was trusting the pharmacy staff to provide them with the appropriate medication.

Consider a recent incident in the state of Texas where a man is now claiming that a mistake made by pharmacy staff has cost him his vision.

According to reports, the 65-year-old man reported to a Houston-area hospital back in 2012 complaining of discomfort in his eye. He was subsequently diagnosed by physicians with conjunctivitis — or pink eye as it is more commonly known — and sent home with a prescription for a well-known drug called cortisporin ophthalmic suspension.

The man proceeded to fill the prescription at a branch of one of the major pharmacy chains and was given a prescription with a label instructing him to “instill 3 drops in each eye twice daily for 5 days.” However, the medication packaging, which was obscured by the label, later revealed that the medicine given to the man was actually neomycin-polymyxin-HC, which is used to treat bacterial ear infections.

The man later experienced immense pain and irritation after using the drops and had to return to the hospital. Sadly, physicians later indicated that he had lost vision in his left eye as a direct result of mistakenly putting the ear solution into his eye. He has since filed a lawsuit against the pharmacy chain in question.

Stories like these are truly upsetting and serve as a reminder to always double check any and all prescriptions picked up from the pharmacy — even those from establishments that you’ve used for years.

Consider speaking with a dedicated legal professional if you’ve experienced unnecessary pain and suffering due to a prescription error here in Pennsylvania.

Source: USA Today, “Man claims CVS mistake cost him his sight,” Kevin Reece, June 20, 2014