A Las Vegas woman who was undergoing IVF had her dreams of expanding her family snatched away after a CVS pharmacy mistakenly gave her an abortion pill and terminated her pregnancy in the early stages.
The incident happened in 2019, right after Tamika Thomas had two embryos transferred and went to pick up her fertility medication that was supposed to help her body “think it’s pregnant.”
However, the pharmacy technicians at the North Las Vegas CVS gave her Misoprostol instead, which is used for “medical abortion.”
“They just killed my baby,” Tamika Thomas told 8 News Now. “Both my babies, because I transferred two embryos.”
Thomas brought a complaint to the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy and learned when no one could read her doctor’s handwriting on the prescription, they assumed it was Misoprostol instead of calling the doctor to confirm.
CVS also blamed being short-staffed for their negligence.
“You cannot expect one pharmacist to be doing drop-off, pickup, verifying prescriptions, calling providers, calling patients,” a pharmacist said.
Typically, when you pick up a prescription a pharmacist will review the medication and instructions with you.
If that had been done, they would have quickly discovered Tamika Thomas was prescribed the wrong medication.
“I understand that people make mistakes,” Tamika said at the hearing. “But that mistake took something from me.”
The CVS pharmacy did not lose its license and only had a pay a measly $10,000 fine for taking away Tamika Thomas’ chances of expanding her family.
She is unable to sue because the statute of limitations has expired.
Tamika said, “All I got was a ‘sorry’. It will never be good enough.”
My heart and prayers go out to Tamika and her husband.
Please let this story serve as a reminder to ALWAYS have your pharmacist confirm and explain what medication you picking up at CVS or any other pharmacy.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the convo on our socials. (Facebook, Instagram).
Source: People
