What medicine for schizophrenia can do to you

I wonder how often this happens…

Glendale Pharmacy in Newport News, VA gave the wrong medication to a patient. Apparently, the patient was supposed to receive Macrobid (a drug for urinary tract infections) and instead received Clozaril – a medicine for schizophrenia!

Yowsers, that has got to be a shock to the system.

The patient who got the Clozaril experienced a loss of consciousness,  slurred speech and lethargy and had to take a trip to the ER.

The pharmacy was fined $500, which leads me to believe this might happen more often than not.

Broken ankle

Bevette Gardner, from Salem, was fired in January 2006 from the Richfield Recovery and Care Center when she tried to transport a patient without taking the necessary precautions. As a result of the transfer, the patient broke her ankle. Gardner also failed to perform a proper assessment before returning the patient to her bed, documents said.

Then, Gardner filed a false statement about the incident.

Gardner was reprimanded by the board in June and is not allowed to practice in a long-term care facility that utilizes Medicaid or Medicare for at least one year after being charged with neglect.

This is the only time Gardner has been sanctioned by the board. There is no information in the consent order about the state of the patient, whether she was young or old, or even susceptible to broken bones. Often times, in cases like this, nurse aides are left alone to monitor a dozen or so patients, many of whom are mentally ill and fragile.