Pharmacists Saves man's life in Dublin

The Hound Gone Wild

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/dublin-pharmacist-saves-life-teen-14541427.amp

What a great story. Congratulations to the pharmacist involved her quick thinking saved a life!

Billy86

The first thing that sprung to mind when I saw the thread title was the teenage girl that died from the same cause a few years back when a pharmacy refused to give anything to help her reaction because the parents did not have a prescription on hand. Ironically enough, that happened in the pharmacy directly across the street - you could literally throw a stone from the front door of one, and hit the other.

Great job by the pharmacist to pick up on it, and hats off to the staff for using common sense to deal with the emergency first and foremost; it literally was the difference between life and death.

super_furry

Fair play and thankfully lessons were learned from the last time.

January

Thankfully she could help not like that poor girl a few years ago

Billy86

Just to clarify, this was in Hickey's Pharmacy (GPO side of the street) while the incident a few years back was in Hamilton Long Pharmacy (Savoy cinema side of the street) - felt it worth pointing out since I initially thought it was the same pharmacy also.

Thephantomsmask

Billy86 wrote: »

The first thing that sprung to mind when I saw the thread title was the teenage girl that died from the same cause a few years back when a pharmacy refused to give anything to help her reaction because the parents did not have a prescription on hand. Ironically enough, that happened in the pharmacy directly across the street - you could literally throw a stone from the front door of one, and hit the other.

Great job by the pharmacist to pick up on it, and hats off to the staff for using common sense to deal with the emergency first and foremost; it literally was the difference between life and death.

The difference there though was that the mother went to the pharmacy, the daughter wasn't present, the pharmacist had no way of assessing the symptoms. if anything had happened due to handing out the adrenaline to the mother then they would be liable.

suicide_circus

Thephantomsmask wrote: »

The difference there though was that the mother went to the pharmacy, the daughter wasn't present, the pharmacist had no way of assessing the symptoms. if anything had happened due to handing out the adrenaline to the mother then they would be liable.

and in ireland people sue at the drop of a hat so you can't blame him

Bitches Be Trypsin

suicide_circus wrote: »

and in ireland people sue at the drop of a hat so you can't blame him

I agree. I always believed that pharmacist was right and not to blame.

Billy86

Thephantomsmask wrote: »

The difference there though was that the mother went to the pharmacy, the daughter wasn't present, the pharmacist had no way of assessing the symptoms. if anything had happened due to handing out the adrenaline to the mother then they would be liable.

True, though that is because the girl collapsed about 30-40 feet outside the shop if I recall, on the corner where the Ulster Bank is.

It is of course a very difficult situation and on O'Connell St you probably get more chancers than anywhere in the entire country so I don't want to make the pharmacists out to be evil nor grossly incompetent or anything, but struck me as quite dismissive of the staff to not at least go to check as the mother must have been in a serious panic at that time.

The Hound Gone Wild

Billy86 wrote: »

The first thing that sprung to mind when I saw the thread title was the teenage girl that died from the same cause a few years back when a pharmacy refused to give anything to help her reaction because the parents did not have a prescription on hand. Ironically enough, that happened in the pharmacy directly across the street - you could literally throw a stone from the front door of one, and hit the other.

Great job by the pharmacist to pick up on it, and hats off to the staff for using common sense to deal with the emergency first and foremost; it literally was the difference between life and death.

Unfortunately at the time the law wasn't on that pharmacists side and it wasn't on the girls side. It's desperate that she had to die for the law to change but at that time under the eyes of the law, a random person coming into a pharmacy looking for adrenaline without a prescription was the same as a random person coming in looking for a benzo or a high strength pain killer. Maybe if the girl had of been in the pharmacy herself things would have been different but who can say.

Summer wind

My doctor had to do this procedure to me when I went into anaphylactic shock. It's really scary not being able to breathe properly and the hives and itching are out of this world. My head swelled up like a pumpkin. The injection is fantastic and you can breathe more easily almost straight away. Delighted to hear everything worked out well for the young man.

Billy86

The Hound Gone Wild wrote: »

Unfortunately at the time the law wasn't on that pharmacists side and it wasn't on the girls side. It's desperate that she had to die for the law to change but at that time under the eyes of the law, a random person coming into a pharmacy looking for adrenaline was the same as a random person coming in looking for a benzo or a strength pain killer. Maybe if the girl had of been in the pharmacy herself things would have been different but who can say.

Possibly (hopefully!) but I having grown up in a pharmacy the general rule for some kind of emergency like that tended to be 'act now, ask questions later'.
But... it's a lot easier to have that mentality in a residential suburban setting than O'Connell Street.

bucketybuck

Seems rather unfair to use this incident as a stick to beat the other chemist with, I remember the details of that other case as well and think they were put in an impossible situation.

Huge, fundamental differences between the two cases to the point that the comparison isn't fair. Why not celebrate this chemist for doing a professional job instead of using this case to dredge up the other?

dr.fuzzenstein

Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »

I agree. I always believed that pharmacist was right and not to blame.

It is really sad when we have to think "yeah, somebody croaked it in the most miserable way imaginable on the street, but at least the pharmacy covered their arse and followed the regulations to the letter so they couldn't get sued".
I wonder how many people would gladly let someone die just to make sure they themselves are OK.

bucketybuck

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

It is really sad when we have to think "yeah, somebody croaked it in the most miserable way imaginable on the street, but at least the pharmacy covered their arse and followed the regulations to the letter so they couldn't get sued".
I wonder how many people would gladly let someone die just to make sure they themselves are OK.

Go read up on the details of that case before displaying your ignorance so publicly.

diomed

Well done young woman.
You knew what to do and you did it well.

the_pen_turner

how would you feel if the pharmasist mis diagnosed and gave the wrong thing. or the child was alergic to it without knowing. there would be war

The Hound Gone Wild

the_pen_turner wrote: »

how would you feel if the pharmasist mis diagnosed and gave the wrong thing. or the child was alergic to it without knowing. there would be war

Two key things jump out of the article to me regarding your comment.

1: She's a highly trained healthcare professional who knew what she was seeing and knew what she was talking about.
2: She covered her own ass by asking for consent before administering the injection.

Spanish Eyes

With some compassion for the original pharmacist, I would not judge.

Face to face is the only way really which is what happened here.

I read that the pharmacist in the first case is traumatised because of the vitriol presented, but that's social media for you.

So, in the first case what should have happened? I think there is more to the first case than meets the eye. Do not remember an inquest verdict either.

Billy86

the_pen_turner wrote: »

how would you feel if the pharmasist mis diagnosed and gave the wrong thing. or the child was alergic to it without knowing. there would be war

Not referring to the previous incident at all here but just the one in the OP - it is far better to try and fail to save someone, than to let them die for fear of taking a risk.

I've heard of doctors doing mental stuff to save people before, like finding a guy choking to death in a quiet hospital hallway in the middle of the night, grabbing a random pipe, shoving it down their esophagus and sucking what they were choking on out of there like diesel in a car. Blood -everywhere- from internal cuts where the pipe went in, but given the choice between that and death I know which I'd be grateful for.

CruelCoin

Thephantomsmask wrote: »

The difference there though was that the mother went to the pharmacy, the daughter wasn't present, the pharmacist had no way of assessing the symptoms. if anything had happened due to handing out the adrenaline to the mother then they would be liable.

suicide_circus wrote: »

and in ireland people sue at the drop of a hat so you can't blame him

Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »

I agree. I always believed that pharmacist was right and not to blame.

We don't have a good samaritan law in Ireland. not a proper one at least. If you have expertise, and you fail to act, you can be ****ed.
If you are close enough to help, and you do, and mess up, then you can be ****ed. Moreso if you are an expert in the area.

https://www.imt.ie/opinion/new-protection-for-volunteers-and-good-samaritans-15-02-2012/

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I certainly wouldn't cast stones at people rightfully worried about their careers and the decade of training it took to get there....

Graces7

If he knew of his allergy, why did he not have an epi pen? Nut allergy is common and deadly.

seamus

Graces7 wrote: »

If he knew of his allergy, why did he not have an epi pen? Nut allergy is common and deadly.

He's human. Ever leave the house without your keys? Or money?

Ever walk into a room and forget why you went in there?

It's a bit of a silly question - people who need epipens can and will on occasion forget them. Because they're human and human brains are far from perfect.

Graces7

seamus wrote: »

He's human. Ever leave the house without your keys? Or money?

Ever walk into a room and forget why you went in there?

It's a bit of a silly question - people who need epipens can and will on occasion forget them. Because they're human and human brains are far from perfect.

Well no and surely his mother? This is life and death concern. Take your epipen! Glue it to your body

Billy86

Graces7 wrote: »

Well no and surely his mother? This is life and death concern. Take your epipen! Glue it to your body

You're really saying you've never forgotten to leave the house with anything ever?

In my experience, just yesterday I went to work in a coat, hoodie and light jumper because it was wretched out. The weather then did a complete 180 and I since I walk for my commute, I left the coat and hoodie in the office. When I got home I realised I had forgotten my keys, which were in my coat pocket.

Added to that, for all you know the teenager thought his mother had it with her while she thought the teenager had it with him.

bucketybuck

seamus wrote: »

He's human. Ever leave the house without your keys? Or money?

Billy86 wrote: »

You're really saying you've never forgotten to leave the house with anything ever?

In my experience, just yesterday I went to work in a coat, hoodie and light jumper because it was wretched out. The weather then did a complete 180 and I since I walk for my commute, I left the coat and hoodie in the office. When I got home I realised I had forgotten my keys, which were in my coat pocket.

Added to that, for all you know the teenager thought his mother had it with her while she thought the teenager had it with him.

Seriously lads, there is a huge difference between your house keys and something that you need for survival. "Forget this and you could die" should be one hell of a motivator. Equating such a device to a hoody is just ridiculous.

A good friend of mine has various ailments, any of which could render him unconscious very quickly. Trust me, he might forget things here and there, but he never forgets his little medical bag. Death isn't something you **** about with.

Billy86

I was asthmatic as a kid and frequently forgot my inhaler too, if that's better for you. People sometimes forget things, even very important things, when they are so routine as to be easily overlooked (yes, even things needed for survival). That's pretty standard human nature.

seamus

Billy86 wrote: »

I was asthmatic as a kid and frequently forgot my inhaler too, if that's better for you. People sometimes forget things, even very important things, when they are so routine as to be easily overlooked (yes, even things needed for survival). That's pretty standard human nature.

Kids can also tend towards being a bit too rebellious/cocky for their own good.

Plenty of stories of teenagers with type 1 diabetes who play fast and loose with their diet, or refuse to take bloods or insulin, because that's the kind of attitude that teenagers have.

So I can certainly see a teenager with an epipen being very blasé about whether they bring it on a given day.

brightspark

seamus wrote: »

He's human. Ever leave the house without your keys? Or money?

Ever walk into a room and forget why you went in there?

It's a bit of a silly question - people who need epipens can and will on occasion forget them. Because they're human and human brains are far from perfect.

It can happen very easily, I usually have both of my pens with me, one in my jacket pocket, the other in my overnight bag.

Today I left the house, grabbed a different jacket AND because of my plans didn't bring the overnight bag..So no pen with me for the morning until I returned home (about 6 hours). I have only been carrying pens for about 6 months, today I think was the first time I didn't have either, but on several occasions I have only had one pen with me.

The epipens aren't cheap, (two cost me almost €100) and they expire after only a year. AFAIK the price for epipens in the USA is much higher.