’These mistakes kill people’: parents file pharmacist complaint after child’s accidental overdose

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This article was published 22/08/2025 (380 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg family is urging others to pay close attention to their prescriptions after a highly-potent pill — 10 times the strength it was supposed to be — made their child seriously ill.

Andrea Thidrickson and Kevin Barkley’s 10-year-old daughter is shaken after experiencing an accidental overdose and subsequent visit to the emergency room last week.

Their daughter’s pediatrician has, for several months now, prescribed two milligrams of the medication in question on a daily basis, the duo said.

On Aug. 14, the girl took a single pill containing 20 milligrams of it.

“These mistakes kill people. It could’ve been much worse, had it been a different medication,” Barkley said.

Both he and his partner recalled feeling panicked when they discovered a pharmacist at the Dominion Centre Shoppers Drug Mart had dispensed the wrong dosage two days earlier.

The parents requested both the name of the drug and their daughter be withheld from print to protect her privacy.

The 10-year-old was out of town staying with a family friend who had been given her newly refilled prescription, her mother said.

Thidrickson said she got a call about her daughter throwing up her pill on Aug. 14, and was later informed the girl had shown exhaustion-like symptoms after taking it one day earlier.

Manitoba pharmacies reported 1,348 safety incidents to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada between Oct. 1 and March 31.

One case resulted in “severe harm.” A total of 103 incidents were determined to have caused mild to moderate harm.

Six in 10 errors took place during the prescription preparation and dispensing process.

The most common types of incidents, including near-misses, involved handing out the wrong drug or the incorrect dose and intake instructions.

“Part of me felt a bit guilty,” Thidrickson said as she recalled receiving a text from the family friend with a photo of a bottle that stated 20 milligrams rather than two, and frantically seeking medical advice.

She and her daughter arrived at the Children’s Hospital later that day. The 10-year-old has since fully recovered.

The mother of four noted she found a different error several weeks earlier and rectified it on the spot before leaving the pharmacy. In that case, her son was given multiple steroid treatments after an asthma attack even though his doctor had only recommended one, she said.

Thidrickson has begun the process of filing a complaint with the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba.

Both the regulatory college and the owner of the facility at 43 Marion St. apologized for the incident, she said.

The parents said a pharmacy staffer assured them an internal review would take place and there would be disciplinary action. The response was not enough to prevent them from closing their account, they said.

Loblaw Companies Ltd., the parent company of Shoppers Drug Mart, did not answer specific questions Friday.

“We are taking this matter very seriously and have launched a thorough investigation with our pharmacy incident team,” a spokesperson wrote via email.

The statement indicated the company was working with the associate owner of the location and “in the process” of contacting the affected family.

Pharmacists Manitoba deferred comment to the professional oversight body.

The advocacy organization does not have data on how many prescriptions are dispensed in Manitoba every year, but its national counterpart estimates there are roughly 750 million across Canada.

Neely Hammerberg, of the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba, said local pharmacists are obligated to document and analyze an incident, as well as implement safety improvement strategies afterwards.

A site manager should inform a patient of their action plan to prevent further incidents, as per the college’s standards of practises.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca