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Why it's important to read the labels
of your medications
Even if you've heard it before, it bears repeating: read
the label before you take any medication. A 69-year-old woman
took 12 tablets of ValiumŪ (diazepam) 5 mg instead of 12 tablets
of Tri-Mox® (amoxicillin)
250 mg because she grabbed the wrong bottle. The woman, who
has a heart murmur, was supposed to take Tri-Mox 3 g before
a dental appointment. The pharmacy where she filled the prescription
did not have the Tri-Mox 500 mg tablets, of which she usually
took six tablets. Instead, the pharmacy filled her prescription
with Tri-Mox 250 mg tablets, and the pharmacist told her to
take 12 tablets to make the 3 g dose. Because her appointment
was not for a few days, she put the bottle in the medicine
cabinet at home. Before she left for her dental appointment,
she accidentally picked the Valium bottle instead of the Tri-Mox
bottle from the medicine cabinet and took 12 tablets. Then,
while driving to her appointment, she blacked out, and her
car hit a tree. Fortunately, she was not seriously injured.
At the emergency room, during the accident investigation,
Valium was found in her urine specimen, and her mistake was
discovered. Most prescription bottles look alike-they're usually
amber colored with white caps and labels. For that reason,
you have to read the labels every time you take a medication.
This accident didn't have to happen, but the rest of us should
learn the lesson, too.
Institute for Safe Medication Practices
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