Sherwood Park family speaks out after medical mix-up caused overdose in infant

CTV Edmonton: Mix-up leads to overdose to infant A Sherwood Park family is speaking out they say a medical mix-up nearly killed their infant.

A Sherwood Park family is speaking out after a mix up at a local pharmacy caused an overdose in their infant.

Baby Asher was given medication for a medical condition when he was just three weeks old however, documents show a mix up at the Dispensaries Limited pharmacy indicate the technician used the wrong compound that nearly cost the infant his life.

According to Asher’s grandma, Vera Smith, less than an hour after his first dose she noticed problems.

After administering the medicine she heated up a bottle of milk and sat down to feed him.

“Within about three suckles he started drooling, he wasn’t swallowing. His eyes rolled in the back of his head and his arms just fell back.

“He went limp in my hands. It was horrible.

“Basically what had happened was he started not breathing. He was gasping for breaths,” she explained.

“We called 9-1-1. They came within minutes and they had to revive him.”

Asher was taken to hospital and Smith said medics there confirmed it was a drug overdose.

Asher’s mother, Le-Shay Babcock said the pharmacist came to the hospital and told them an internal review showed that the wrong compound was used for the prescription.

“I asked for a copy of this paper. They gave it to me and they admitted that it was 100 times the dose given to him.”

The women said they have not heard from the pharmacy since and want other families to know that mistakes can be made.

“Something needs to be done. Awareness needs to be put out there,” Smith said.

“Basically we have to watch him from here on in. We don’t know what the long term effects are. Whether it affects his learning, walking we have no clue at this point.”

CTV News has not heard back from the pharmacy or the Alberta College of Pharmacists.

With files from Kelsey Nichols