Risk of Medication Errors in Stressful Pharmacy Work Environments
March 7th, 2025By Lauren Jones, The Bowling Law Firm Paralegal –
In the past few years, working conditions in pharmacies across the United States have come into the spotlight. Pharmacists are overworked, pharmacies are understaffed, and the risk of errors is predictably higher.
Post COVID-19, staffing levels at popular pharmacy chains like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens have significantly fallen. The remaining employees, already spread thin, have to pick up the slack. In an NBC News article published in 2021, Marilyn Jerominski details her experience as a pharmacist:
“There’s so much stress,” Jerominski said. “You’re not only running to the drive-thru but to the front, to the vaccination station to give a vaccination, then to the phone. . . . It’s almost impossible for any human to keep that momentum day in and out.”
Over the course of their investigation, NBC News reached out to over 30 retail pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across 15 states in the U.S.
This group of pharmacy workers detailed their experience working 12-hour shifts that got so busy they did not have time to go to the bathroom or eat. Some left work at the end of their shift and cried in their car. Some stayed awake late into the night worrying about whether or not they made any mistakes while they were rushing through their shift.
To help ease the burden of unsustainably long and stressful work hours, some major chain pharmacies started closing for 30 minutes each day to allow employees a meal break. Some locations announced reduced pharmacy hours.
Although a step in the right direction, these changes have not improved the workload. Pharmacists are still pushed to the brink.
Part of the problem lies in excessive expectations of the pharmacy chains such as CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid. Employees are not allowed to leave their shifts, even in the most unimaginable circumstances.
As detailed in one USA Today article, Kentucky pharmacist Wendy Lear was forced to go into work while miscarrying her first child because no one else was available to cover her shift.
Even more tragically, pharmacist Ashleigh Anderson’s employer said she could not leave her shift despite her complaints of heart attack symptoms. She collapsed and died on the pharmacy floor before she could leave work to go to the hospital, according to another article in USA Today.
These extreme examples from media reports illustrate the pressure pharmacists face across America. They are stressed and overworked. The more overworked they are, the more likely they are to make mistakes. Errors can range from harmless mistakes such as miscounting the number of pills in a bottle to deadly ones like filling the wrong medication or labeling a medication incorrectly.
In Louisiana, La. Admin. Code tit. 46 § LIII-1205 tasks pharmacists with, “assuring that the system is in good working order and accurately provides the correct strength, dosage form, and quantity of the drug prescribed while maintaining appropriate record keeping and security safeguards.”
The law also enforces the, “establishment of a quality assurance program prior to implementation of a system and the supervision of an ongoing quality assurance program that monitors appropriate use and performance of a system, which is evidenced by policies and procedures developed by the pharmacist-in-charge.”
Despite laws governing pharmacy operations, The Bowling Law Firm is frequently called upon to assist pharmacy patients and their loved ones in dealing with the repercussions and aftermath of pharmacy errors resulting from the state of the current pharmacy industry.
As Senior Partner David Bowling laments, “The epidemic of pharmacy errors chronicled in media reports from 2021 does not appear to be waning. Although we occasionally are contacted about errors made by mom-and-pop pharmacies, the vast majority of improper prescriptions flow from the chain pharmacies such as Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS. We are also seeing mistakes made by the big box store pharmacies like Walmart Pharmacy and Costco Pharmacy.”
Alexis Jani, a pharmacy error lawyer at Bowling, notes that overworked pharmacy staff commit a wide variety of errors: “Probably the most common problem is that a pharmacy will fill a prescription with the wrong medication. This very frequently happens when drug names appear and sound similar.”
Although medical and nursing staff have long been on the lookout to avoid medication errors by adhering to “look-alike/sound alike” procedures, these mistakes are unfortunately commonplace in American pharmacies.
Jani adds that, “these kinds of pharmacy errors deliver a ‘double whammy’ to the pharmacy patient. Our client gets harmed by a drug he or she does not need and additionally fails to get the benefit of the drug they do need and are supposed to be taking.”
The law firm also encounters situations in which a pharmacy fills a prescription with the proper medication but then gives it to the wrong patient.
And Bowling Law Firm pharmacy error attorney Katie Sepcich said the firm often assists pharmacy patients who have received the wrong dose of the right medication.
According to Sepcich, this is especially problematic where “the particular drug presents a high risk of side effects and triggers a severe reaction when it is given in a dose which the patient’s doctor did not prescribe and did not intend for the patient to receive.”
Indeed, the firm frequently helps people using weight loss medications, such as Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Ozempic.
These drugs carry a high risk profile and require gradual escalation of the dosage to reach a therapeutic level and avoid an adverse drug reaction. When the pharmacy fails to adhere to the dosing schedule, and the patient starts off with too much of the medicine, severe reactions can result.
If you have suffered because of a pharmacy error, call The Bowling Law Firm to discuss your potential for recovery at 504-586-5200, or email us at [email protected].
