Man takes 24 pills within 12 hours on doctor's wrong prescription

A hospital in Shanghai apologized to a patient after one of its doctor mistakenly typed a wrong dosage of antibiotics – 12 pills every six hours – after which he had to be rushed to the emergency department at night.

The incident drew widespread attention online, with the public mainly lambasting the hospital for failing to ensure medical safety as the doctor made a mistake and the pharmacist who reviewed the prescription failed to catch the error, local media reported.

The patient surnamed Tang went to Minhang District Central Hospital on Saturday for a foot infection and the doctor prescribed Cefradine capsules for him.

The prescription said the dosage was 12 pills – each 0.25 grams – every six hours. Tang said the capsules he got from the hospital were in a bottle and there were no instructions on the package.

Tang took the pills in accordance with the prescription in the morning and afternoon, totaling 24 capsules. He developed diarrhea at night and was rushed to the hospital's emergency department at night, with doctors diagnosing it as an overdose.

Minhang District Central Hospital told Thepaper.cn, a local media, that the doctor made a mistake while making the prescription and the pharmacist failed to carefully check the dosage while giving the medicine. The hospital has contacted the patient for arranging health checks and discussing likely compensation.

Hospital authorities have talked with relevant staff and asked them to do improve the process to prevent such accidents. They will also provide training to all doctors to ensure medical safety and service quality.

Tang revealed that he went to the hospital for a health checkup on Monday and no problem was detected. He will undergo another two checks to ensure all is well with his health.

He said the hospital had called him to apologize and promised compensation. Hospital officials also told him that tablets or capsules come in bottles which are packed in a box, which has instructions on their usage. Individual bottles do not carry instructions, which was the case with his prescription.

Industry insiders also expressed their professional views. A maternity doctor from a leading hospital said that the incident shows the importance of pharmacists, as doctors are humans and there is a possibility of making mistakes. That's why pharmacists must review each prescription.

Some netizens suggested that authorities carry out an inspection to check for similar mistakes in other local hospitals and issue more perfect and targeted measures to prevent loopholes and ensure medical safety.