Dispensing fail suspension

A NORTHERN Irish pharmacist convicted for a dispensing error which led to the death of a patient has had his registration suspended for seven months.

Antrim pharmacist Martin White accidentally dispensed propranolol instead of prednisolone to a 67-year-old COPD patient, who died shortly after taking the medication, a Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) statutory committee heard in a hearing late last month.

PSNI acknowledged that White, who was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, which was suspended for two years in Dec 2016, had made an “isolated incident in an otherwise unblemished career” and had been “open and transparent” throughout the investigation into the patient’s death.

White was working as pharmacy manger at Clear Pharmacy in the Antrim Health Centre when the prednisolone script was presented by the patient’s husband. The prescription label had directed that eight tablets of prednisolone 40mg be taken daily for five days, but the label was inadvertently affixed to a packet of 40mg beta-blocker propranolol.

When the patient took eight propranolol tabs, she quickly fell ill, was taken to hospital and died a short time later as a result of the toxic effects of the high dose.

White admitted that the propranolol box was located adjacent to prednisolone packets in the alphabetically arranged dispensary shelving.

Since the incident, White expressed “remorse and regret for his actions” and said it was “impossible” for him to “conceive that he could practise again”.

Visit psni.org.uk to access the full