Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Pharmacy mistakenly gives abortion pill to pregnant woman

From the Denver Post:
A 19-year-old pregnant woman accidentally took a cancer and abortion drug after she was given the wrong prescription from a Safeway pharmacy.

Mareena Silva of Fort Lupton took methotrexate, thinking it was her prescribed antibiotic.

Methotrexate is used in psoriasis and cancer treatment but is also used to terminate early pregnancies.

Silva, who is six weeks pregnant, told Fox-31 News in Denver that after taking a pill, she realized the prescription was not hers. She told the station the pharmacist recommended she throw up the pill but her doctor called for an ambulance so she could get immediate treatment.

The mix-up probably occurred because the person the methotrexate was prescribed to has a name similar to Silva's.

Silva's mother, Lynn Chavez, said her daughter was resting Tuesday afternoon.

"She is doing OK," her mother said. "We don't know anything yet. We will just have to wait and see."

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