LAS VEGAS, NV- In a heartbreaking story, a Las Vegas woman who underwent in vitro fertilization was left distraught after a CVS pharmacy negligently gave her “morning after” abortion pills, which took the lives of her unborn children, the New York Post reports.
Timika Thomas, who has four other children, previously had her fallopian tubes and was undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) went to a CVS store for her doctor-prescribed vaginal suppositories in 2019.
She told KLAS that after taking the medication given to her, she began “cramping really bad” when, instead of her prescribed medicine, she was given Misoprostol instead.
“I started cramping really bad…my cramping went beyond that. It was extreme. It was painful,” Thomas said.
She took two doses of the medication and then checked the bottle she received from the CVS in North Vegas.
“The first thing I read is it’s used for abortions,” she said.
“They just killed my baby…both my babies because I transferred two embryos.”
KLAS obtained two documents confirming that two pharmacy technicians and two licensed pharmacists were responsible for the deadly error. The document showed that one of the technicians had misunderstood the brand name prescribed by Thomas’ doctor and entered the wrong name into the prescription.
The error got by one pharmacist, while the second didn’t give Thomas dosage and caution information when she retrieved the pills.
During the hearing, it was noted that nobody could read the doctor’s handwriting on the prescription, which led the technicians to “guess” and give her the Misoprostal instead of calling the doctor’s office to confirm.
“It [the error] would have been caught because then they would had to have the medicine in their hand,” Thomas said. “And they would have said, ‘Oh, this is Misoprostol or Cyotek; have you taken this before?’ And I would have said, ‘No.’”
PEOPLE Magazine reported that according to a report in Pharmacy Times, a trade journal for pharmacists, reviewing medication with a patient is protocol.
“Pharmacists will counsel patients on how to take the misoprostol and what to expect with this medication.”
Thomas filed a complaint with the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, which would decide to fine the pharmacists, provisionally take their licenses, or both. The Board provisionally suspended the licenses, which can be reinstated sometime over the next year.
In testimony, one of the pharmacists admitted, “It’s a human error. It was just a human error, and I’m so sorry.”
Meanwhile, two babies are dead. CVS was fined $10,000, the maximum financial penalty under Nevada state law. For two dead babies.
“We’ve apologized to our patient for the prescription incident that occurred in 2019 and have cooperated with the Nevada Board of Pharmacy in this matter,” CVS said in a statement to KLAS.
“The health and well-being of our patients is our number one priority, and we have comprehensive policies and procedures in place to support prescription safety. Prescription errors are very rare, but if one does occur, we take steps to learn from it in order to continuously improve quality and patient safety.”
According to one of the pharmacists, she blamed cutbacks implemented by CVS as leaving pharmacists overwhelmed.
“You cannot expect one pharmacist to be doing drop-off, pickup, verifying prescriptions, calling providers, calling patients,” she said, noting that they are also responsible for administering vaccines.
“I understand people make mistakes,” Thomas said at the hearing. “But that mistake took something from me.”
Thomas took the medication designed to make her body “think it’s pregnant.”
Thomas said the scars from losing her two babies have not healed four years after the incident.
“All I got was sorry,” she said. It will never be good enough.”
Due to a statute of limitations, Thomas is unable to sue CVS.
Timika Thomas, who has four other children, previously had her fallopian tubes and was undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) went to a CVS store for her doctor-prescribed vaginal suppositories in 2019.
She told KLAS that after taking the medication given to her, she began “cramping really bad” when, instead of her prescribed medicine, she was given Misoprostol instead.
“I started cramping really bad…my cramping went beyond that. It was extreme. It was painful,” Thomas said.
She took two doses of the medication and then checked the bottle she received from the CVS in North Vegas.
“The first thing I read is it’s used for abortions,” she said.
“They just killed my baby…both my babies because I transferred two embryos.”
KLAS obtained two documents confirming that two pharmacy technicians and two licensed pharmacists were responsible for the deadly error. The document showed that one of the technicians had misunderstood the brand name prescribed by Thomas’ doctor and entered the wrong name into the prescription.
The error got by one pharmacist, while the second didn’t give Thomas dosage and caution information when she retrieved the pills.
During the hearing, it was noted that nobody could read the doctor’s handwriting on the prescription, which led the technicians to “guess” and give her the Misoprostal instead of calling the doctor’s office to confirm.
“It [the error] would have been caught because then they would had to have the medicine in their hand,” Thomas said. “And they would have said, ‘Oh, this is Misoprostol or Cyotek; have you taken this before?’ And I would have said, ‘No.’”
PEOPLE Magazine reported that according to a report in Pharmacy Times, a trade journal for pharmacists, reviewing medication with a patient is protocol.
“Pharmacists will counsel patients on how to take the misoprostol and what to expect with this medication.”
Thomas filed a complaint with the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, which would decide to fine the pharmacists, provisionally take their licenses, or both. The Board provisionally suspended the licenses, which can be reinstated sometime over the next year.
In testimony, one of the pharmacists admitted, “It’s a human error. It was just a human error, and I’m so sorry.”
Meanwhile, two babies are dead. CVS was fined $10,000, the maximum financial penalty under Nevada state law. For two dead babies.
“We’ve apologized to our patient for the prescription incident that occurred in 2019 and have cooperated with the Nevada Board of Pharmacy in this matter,” CVS said in a statement to KLAS.
“The health and well-being of our patients is our number one priority, and we have comprehensive policies and procedures in place to support prescription safety. Prescription errors are very rare, but if one does occur, we take steps to learn from it in order to continuously improve quality and patient safety.”
According to one of the pharmacists, she blamed cutbacks implemented by CVS as leaving pharmacists overwhelmed.
“You cannot expect one pharmacist to be doing drop-off, pickup, verifying prescriptions, calling providers, calling patients,” she said, noting that they are also responsible for administering vaccines.
“I understand people make mistakes,” Thomas said at the hearing. “But that mistake took something from me.”
Thomas took the medication designed to make her body “think it’s pregnant.”
Thomas said the scars from losing her two babies have not healed four years after the incident.
“All I got was sorry,” she said. It will never be good enough.”
Due to a statute of limitations, Thomas is unable to sue CVS.
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