One of the primary causes of medication errors is look-alike vials. Sometimes the error involves the same medication in similar-looking vials, as with Heparin medication errors that resulted in three infant deaths and the recent Heparin overdose cases at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The look-alike medication errors can also involve different medications in similar-looking vials, as with bumetanide and norpinephrine, which are both made by Bedford Laboratories (see photo). Earlier this year, the Institute for Safe Medical Practices issued a look-alike alert for bumetanide and norepinephrine:

We’ve received four reports of look-alike confusion between bumetanide injection vials and norepinephrine injection vials, both made by Bedford Laboratories. In one case, a patient for whom 1 mg of bumetanide was ordered actually received the contents of a 4 mg vial of norepinephrine. A bin in the pharmacy marked ‘bumetanide’ had mistakenly been filled with several norepinephrine vials. The pharmacy technician and pharmacist did not notice the error during a dispensing check. A nurse also failed to notice the error. . . . We’ve contacted Bedford, and the company noted that the bumetanide cap had been changed to the color green last April. However, the error reported above occurred recently, suggesting that vials manufactured prior to April 2006 are still in use. Additionally, once the vial cap is removed from either product, the vials still look very similar.

If you need legal representation in a medication error case, please contact one of our medical malpractice attorneys. We represent people injured by medication errors throughout the United States. If you have been seriously injured, we will fly at our own expense to meet with you.

Posted November 2007.

Labels: attorney, bumetanide, lawsuit, lawyer, medication error, norepinephrine