Link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246986/Four-month-old-baby-dies-receiving-fatal-dose-medicine-mother-given-wrong-prescription-chemist.html
So I came across
this article and was very shocked by the story. This 4 month old girl died after she was prescribed a wrong dosage of medicine from the pharmacist. How appalling! She was born with a hole in her heart and diagnosed with Down's syndrome. Her mother fed her daughter with 10 times of the normal dosage the pharmacist instructed her to. She definitely had no idea or a single clue what she was doing. She killed her daughter, unintentionally. This is definitely very painful for her and she will breakdown miserably. I think that this mother will never forgive herself as for killing her closest kin and a pure soul that she mothered.
After reading this article, I think the pharmacist should be charged with murder, not manslaughter. As a pharmacist, it is a very crucial job and all the patients' medicine are under your control. You ought to have the basic responsibility to make sure and be assertive of the drugs you prescribe to your patients. Any negligence or deficiency amidst the progress and someone's life will be in jeopardy. This pharmacist killed the girl; he is unforgivable. He did not abide by the principles or the ethical morals of a pharmacist and a human being. He did not complete his job seriously and devotedly. He did not treat lives as lives. He is unforgivable.
As for the mother, I believe that she is totally innocent and did not expect this outcome coming as well. All I can say is "Move on with your life, don't stop and feel guilty." One will certainly feel sad when people related to it dies or meet with misfortunes, moreover if it caused the accident itself. But hey, your daughter will surely know that this has nothing to do with you. Don't blame yourself for this anymore, live happily for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow... for both your daughter and most importantly, yourself.
I think that it was Heaven who took away this girl from her mother. Heaven had given her a disadvantage in her life right at the start, now Heaven wants to give her a new life...
January 30, 2010 at 3:19 PM
Hey Kai Ying,
I absolutely agree with you that the pharmacist had failed in his job and did not accomplish his tasks, as a doctor, seriously and devotedly.
However, have you ever heard of this saying: "Human is right to err"? Maybe the pharmacist just made a small mistake, a mistake so small but enough to harm a sick person? Maybe he was just not professional enough? I think that people should not condemn the pharmacist just because of a little mistake that he made. I believe that, you would surely want others to give you another chance if you did something wrong in your life. Everyone should be given another chance in life to amend to their mistakes, just like how you say that Heaven have given the girl another chance in a new life.
I also agree with you that the mother should not blame herself of the death of her child, as it was not her fault. Everyone would surely be devastated and cry if any of their family members are “gone”, but life still gets on. One should not let a failure strike you down, but instead learn from the mistakes.
Regards,
Jing Ye
January 31, 2010 at 8:51 PM
Jing Ye, I just want to point out that a life can be lost just when the pharmacist did not reach the optimum "professionalism". Being unprofessional is a sin as it can and may take someone away. And what do you define by "little", a "little" life? Life is priceless, no matter of who the person is.
Kai Ying
February 2, 2010 at 10:13 PM
Hi,
I have read the article and found that there were more people to be blamed for this error then the pharmacist himself. According to the article, it was the doctor's receptionist who had written the prescription and which was in turn signed by the doctor himself. However, the error was never found out even by the doctor himself. At this point, I would like to question the role of the doctor's receptionist. Would it be simpler if the doctor wrote the prescription himself? Would that not reduce the chance of human error?
I find that blaming the pharmacist alone and even wanting to charge him with murder is not a very fair decision.