Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
Methadone is a synthetic, long release opioid used to treat chronic pain along with addiction to heroine and opioid drugs. Doctors are using a drug, to treat drug addiction. Only this is done in a safe and measured way such that the user is slowly weened off the drug. Being prescribed methadone by a doctor can help reduce cravings or urges to use illicit drugs (heroine) and can also stabilize individuals so that they can get their lives back.
There have been a lot of success stories from proper and monitored methadone use. People who were once addicts and in a dark place see the light and are able to rehabilitate and return to living a positive and productive life. They are able to successfully reintegrate into society and function properly. It’s no longer the drugs talking. People have regained their lives.
Methadone dispensing is monitored by a doctor, and dispensed by a regulated health care professional like a pharmacist. These are people who have been trained to know what they’re doing. Because if they don’t, or if they make a mistake, there can be terrible consequences.
Unfortunately, our law firm Goldfinger Injury Lawyers is seeing the consequences of what happens when methadone clinics aren’t properly doing their jobs.
What do we mean by this? How is it that a methadone clinic isn’t doing their job?
It’s quite simple. It’s the methadone clinic’s job to dispense the correct dosage of methadone. Each patient is prescribed a different dosage from their doctor. Determining the right dosage is highly complex and individualized and depends on a lot of factors which go beyond age, gender, weight, and BMI. This is why doctors have to go through the training which they do.
But once the doctor has determined the right dosage, it’s then up to the pharmacist to get it right, and to dispense the methadone the right way.
Getting the dosage wrong, or giving a patient a dosage which was intended for a different patient can have serious, if not deadly consequences.
Imagine this. You’ve been on the methadone program for a year, and you’ve now been weened down to a dosage of 10ml. But, instead of 10ml, the pharmacist messed up on the calculation and missed a decimal point and dispenses 100ml (10x higher than what you were supposed to take). How do you think a person’s body would react? Do you think this person’s overall treatment would be set back, and if so, for how long? Would they need to go to hospital right away? Would they need an Nalaxone injection? Nalaxone (Narcan) is the drug used in order to temporarily reverse the effects of a methadone overdoes. Is a Narcan injection readily available where the dispensing error or methadone overdose took place? What will happen if this person had an overdose and does not get medical attention right away?
Our lawyers have seen a lot of unfortunate situations where a person has unintentionally overdosed as a result of a pharmacy’s dispensing error. Mistakes should not happen, but the reality especially these days where quality control isn’t what it used to be is that these mistakes are happening more than what you might expect.
Why are these dispensing errors happening?
It’s hard to say, but we have some ideas.
For starters, the methadone programs are popular (there is an opioid crisis) and they are busy. When clinics are busy, which they often are, it’s very important for them to be properly staffed. But, on some occasions the methadone clinics might be understaffed, or staffed with inexperienced personnel, or people who are exhausted having worked multiple shifts or overtime. Remember, all it takes is a single mistake for a dispensing error to happen. The pharmacists and pharmacy assistants might be over worked and tired for their particular shift which may cause lapses in concentration or losses of focus. This is fertile breeding ground for a dispensing error to take place. It just takes one lapse of judgment for a dispensing error to happen. No ill intent is required.
Many methadone clinics operate at very high volumes of patients and carries. When you are working with so much in terms of numbers, there are bound to be errors, mistakes and mishaps. Being busy that day is not an excuse for a licensed pharmacist.
Other times, we see mass confusion. Tens of people rushing to a counter to get served. The system which the pharmacy has to dispense the carries isn’t very organized, or not properly equipped to handle the volume of patients seeking methadone. By accident, a patient gets dispensed with a completely different patient’s dosage causing an involuntary overdose. Again, this is no excuse for a licensed pharmacy.
There is a stigma around these dispensing error cases involving methadone. That negative stigma is directly related to methadone and how the person got on the methadone program in the first place. More often than not it’s because s/he abused illicit narcotics (heroine), or abused opioid medication which they were taking for recreational purposes. What’s hard for the victim of these dispensing error cases is getting others to believe that they are the victims of an involuntary overdose! Convincing doctors, nurses, friends or family that they were the victim of a dispensing error if a person has a history of falling off the rails is quite challenging, not to mention embarrassing for someone who has been struggling with their addiction issues but working really hard to get over the hump. But, with the right lawyer and the right evidence it can be done. And I think that’s the hardest thing. Getting over the shame and embarrassment and the pushback from others after you’ve been the victim of a dispensing error. It really did happen. You didn’t intend for it to happen. You were an innocent victim even if your history of drug usage isn’t innocent, on this occasion, you were in the right and they were in the wrong. Getting people to believe your narrative can be an uphill battle. But, with a little courage, a little luck, along with a skilled personal injury lawyer, that hill won’t be as difficult to climb.
