Super Glue Your Eyes Shut? Relax, It’s Not Going to Be Permanent
A news report about a woman who accidentally glued one of her eyes shut when she mistook Super Glue (cyanoacrylate adhesive) for her eye drops is a reminder that the potential for this mix-up is real. In 2010, The Associated Press reported that a woman who had cataract surgery a year ago was reaching for what she thought was one of her half-dozen eye medications but picked up a nearby super glue container in error. A burning sensation immediately indicated that something was seriously wrong, so she went to the hospital where doctors worked on getting her eye open.
Learn MoreConfusion with Catapress-TTS Patches
Catapres-TTS (transdermal therapeutic system) patches contain the medicine clonidine, which is used to treat high blood pressure. The patch is applied to the skin where it slowly releases the medicine into the body over a specific period of time.
Learn MoreDangerous “Toys”
On October 14, 2011, The New York Times published a story about a 13- month-old boy who died after swallowing pills from a prescription medicine bottle. His parents had given him the bottle to play with as a rattle, believing he could not open the child-resistant cap.
Learn MoreA Documented Allergy Overlooked
A doctor prescribed Donnatal (hyoscyamine, atropine, scopolamine, and phenobarbital) for a man who was allergic to one of its ingredients, phenobarbital. Donnatal is used to relax the muscles in the bladder and intestines and to reduce stomach acid. The community pharmacy’s computer system issued a warning about the allergy, but the pharmacist missed seeing the message while entering the prescription into the computer. The doctor also overlooked the allergy even though it was documented in the patient’s chart. The error was discovered by the man while reading the pharmacy provided consumer medication information leaflet, which listed phenobarbital as one of the ingredients. The man did not take the Donnatal.
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