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‘Emily’s Act’ – A Newly Proposed Federal Pharmacy Technician Law is Long Overdue
Livonia, MI
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Lynn Foley is an attorney and a Registered Nurse. She specializes in medical malpractice
In a perfect world bad things would never happen to our innocent children but sadly in the real world infants and toddlers die or are seriously injured because of mistakes made by careless adults.
A classic example is 2-year-old Emily Jerry who was being treated in a Cleveland hospital and was expected to be discharged after one last round of chemotherapy for a stomach tumor. Instead, the last treatment killed her because of an error by a pharmacy technician.
We all would agree that the technician should be held accountable for the fatal error but because of a quirk in the law the technician goes Scot-free while her supervisor loses his license and faces criminal prosecution.
This makes no sense at all. But in the medical profession common sense does not always prevail. Remember the near-fatal overdose administered to Dennis Quaid's twins? The overdose occurred because of a mislabeling of the blood-thinner heparin. A year earlier babies in Indianapolis had died because of the same mislabeling. Instead of re-labeling the drug, the manufacturer merely sent out a warning to medical staff. That warning was ignored and the Quaid twins nearly died after receiving 1,000 times the normal concentration of heparin.
After that overdose in November 2007 I made the point that if the Quaid twins could be put in peril by a massive overdose at the renowned Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles, then we must wonder how safe are the more anonymous babies and toddlers in hospitals less reputable than Cedars-Sinai.
An example of one of those toddlers was Emily Jerry who died March 1, 2006 in Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland when the pharmacy technician mixed a chemotherapy drug with a saline solution 26 times above normal. The pharmacist on duty did not catch the error and soon after getting the drug Emily was on life support. She died three days later.
At 18 months old, Emily was diagnosed with a curable form of cancer. She underwent surgeries and four rounds of chemo to stop the tumor from growing at the base of her spine. The treatment worked and Emily was expected to be discharged disease-free just after her second birthday. Her parents, Kelly and Christopher, planned a Disney World celebration trip with Emily and her older brother and sister.
The supervising pharmacist had his license revoked a year after Emily's death and in August 2007 was indicted by an Ohio grand jury for reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter. The pharmacy technician responsible for the fatal error, however, has not faced disciplinary action or prosecution because Ohio is among 11 states that do not regulate pharmacy technicians. The technician, in fact, is now working at a CVS pharmacy.
Almost two years after Emily's death a House bill mandating education, training and regulatory standards for all pharmacy technicians was introduced by Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio. The proposed law, called Emily's Act, (HR. 5491) has the backing of Dennis Quaid. Similar legislation is expected to be introduced later this year in Ohio.
What Emily's parents, and most Americans, didn't realize in March 2006 was that in many states the only requirement for a pharmacy technician is that they are a high school graduate without a criminal record. Once the Jerrys learned about this they became leaders of a crusade for higher standards for healthcare workers responsible for entering prescriptions into computers, checking dosages and getting the correct drugs into medical containers.
The common theme between Emily Jerry and the Quaid twins is that the healthcare system has a poor record of fixing what's wrong. More often than not the pharmaceuticals and healthcare decision-makers are not driven to change until facing litigation with the threat of large judgments. They are driven by profit, not common sense.
I am very familiar with the positive force of litigation. As a Registered Nurse as an attorney specializing in malpractice lawsuits I have won:
? A $15.8 million verdict, largest in Michigan for 2006, for a medical error to a baby causing Cerebral Palsy
? A $1.2 million recovery on behalf of a baby born with Spina Bifida
? A $900,000 award to the parents of a baby born with Downs Syndrome
Most people don't realize that more than 700,000 Americans die each year because of medical mistakes. Victims need an attorney to uncover the truth because most medical malpractice mistakes are covered up by doctors and hospitals. An attorney specializing in medical malpractice can dig out the facts, advocate for the victims, and bring about much deserved justice for clients such as Emily Jerry and the Quaid twins.
About Lynn M. Foley
Lynn M. Foley is a senior partner in the Law Offices of Cochran, Foley & Associates, of Livonia, Michigan, which is dedicated to representing individuals and families who have suffered catastrophic losses as a result of injuries, disabilities and death. Foley, also trained as a Registered Nurse, specializes in medical malpractice cases. For more information call: 866-642-4529 or visit www.cochranfoley.com.
A classic example is 2-year-old Emily Jerry who was being treated in a Cleveland hospital and was expected to be discharged after one last round of chemotherapy for a stomach tumor. Instead, the last treatment killed her because of an error by a pharmacy technician.
We all would agree that the technician should be held accountable for the fatal error but because of a quirk in the law the technician goes Scot-free while her supervisor loses his license and faces criminal prosecution.
This makes no sense at all. But in the medical profession common sense does not always prevail. Remember the near-fatal overdose administered to Dennis Quaid's twins? The overdose occurred because of a mislabeling of the blood-thinner heparin. A year earlier babies in Indianapolis had died because of the same mislabeling. Instead of re-labeling the drug, the manufacturer merely sent out a warning to medical staff. That warning was ignored and the Quaid twins nearly died after receiving 1,000 times the normal concentration of heparin.
After that overdose in November 2007 I made the point that if the Quaid twins could be put in peril by a massive overdose at the renowned Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles, then we must wonder how safe are the more anonymous babies and toddlers in hospitals less reputable than Cedars-Sinai.
An example of one of those toddlers was Emily Jerry who died March 1, 2006 in Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland when the pharmacy technician mixed a chemotherapy drug with a saline solution 26 times above normal. The pharmacist on duty did not catch the error and soon after getting the drug Emily was on life support. She died three days later.
At 18 months old, Emily was diagnosed with a curable form of cancer. She underwent surgeries and four rounds of chemo to stop the tumor from growing at the base of her spine. The treatment worked and Emily was expected to be discharged disease-free just after her second birthday. Her parents, Kelly and Christopher, planned a Disney World celebration trip with Emily and her older brother and sister.
The supervising pharmacist had his license revoked a year after Emily's death and in August 2007 was indicted by an Ohio grand jury for reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter. The pharmacy technician responsible for the fatal error, however, has not faced disciplinary action or prosecution because Ohio is among 11 states that do not regulate pharmacy technicians. The technician, in fact, is now working at a CVS pharmacy.
Almost two years after Emily's death a House bill mandating education, training and regulatory standards for all pharmacy technicians was introduced by Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio. The proposed law, called Emily's Act, (HR. 5491) has the backing of Dennis Quaid. Similar legislation is expected to be introduced later this year in Ohio.
What Emily's parents, and most Americans, didn't realize in March 2006 was that in many states the only requirement for a pharmacy technician is that they are a high school graduate without a criminal record. Once the Jerrys learned about this they became leaders of a crusade for higher standards for healthcare workers responsible for entering prescriptions into computers, checking dosages and getting the correct drugs into medical containers.
The common theme between Emily Jerry and the Quaid twins is that the healthcare system has a poor record of fixing what's wrong. More often than not the pharmaceuticals and healthcare decision-makers are not driven to change until facing litigation with the threat of large judgments. They are driven by profit, not common sense.
I am very familiar with the positive force of litigation. As a Registered Nurse as an attorney specializing in malpractice lawsuits I have won:
? A $15.8 million verdict, largest in Michigan for 2006, for a medical error to a baby causing Cerebral Palsy
? A $1.2 million recovery on behalf of a baby born with Spina Bifida
? A $900,000 award to the parents of a baby born with Downs Syndrome
Most people don't realize that more than 700,000 Americans die each year because of medical mistakes. Victims need an attorney to uncover the truth because most medical malpractice mistakes are covered up by doctors and hospitals. An attorney specializing in medical malpractice can dig out the facts, advocate for the victims, and bring about much deserved justice for clients such as Emily Jerry and the Quaid twins.
About Lynn M. Foley
Lynn M. Foley is a senior partner in the Law Offices of Cochran, Foley & Associates, of Livonia, Michigan, which is dedicated to representing individuals and families who have suffered catastrophic losses as a result of injuries, disabilities and death. Foley, also trained as a Registered Nurse, specializes in medical malpractice cases. For more information call: 866-642-4529 or visit www.cochranfoley.com.
Scott Lorenz
President
Westwind Communications
Plymouth, MI
734-667-2090
734-455-7090
