A coroner has found that neglect contributed to the death of Eileen McAdie following an inquest into her death in September 2016.
Ms McAdie was suffering from shingles when she saw her GP who prescribed an increased dose of Amitriptyline to help with the pain. However, she was given blood pressure drug Amlodipine in error at The Village Pharmacy in New Ash Green, Kent. Ms McAdie died at Darent Valley Hospital, in Dartford, Kent, on 27 September 2016 after falling into a coma.
The pharmacist Mr Ghartey-Reindorf had failed to circulate a newsletter to staff at the pharmacy advising them to be cautious about mixing up prescriptions where drugs have very similar sounding names. Amitriptyline and Amlodipine were on this list.
Coroner Christopher Sutton-Mattocks said: “This failure is substantial, not trivial.
“It is a fundamental part of the role of a pharmacist that the correct drugs are dispensed.
“Her death was contributed to by neglect.”
In a statement issued by the family, Mrs McAdie was described as a “much loved wife, mother, sister and grandmother”.
“To lose Eileen in any circumstances would have been a tragedy for the family. To have her taken from them in the way that occurred here, through these errors, is unbearable.”
James Robottom represented Ms McAdie’s family at the inquest. He was instructed by Fairweathers Solicitors.
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