Lloydspharmacy fighting £5m damages case
Lloydspharmacy is being sued for more than £5m by a US lawyer injured by steroids after one of the company's pharmacies dispensed what a doctor had prescribed.
Cathy Horton claims that negligent over-dispensing wrecked her life and
robbed her of the chance of making millions from a new business venture.
Jeremy Stuart-Smith QC told the High Court this week that in July 2001
a GP in the UK prescribed 28 days’ supply of dexamethasone at a
daily dose of 4mg — eight times the maintenance dose of 0.5mg that
Ms Horton had taken for a number of years. The prescription, he claimed,
was dispensed without question. On her return to the US, a doctor there
continued to prescribe 4mg daily after reading the dispensing label.
By the end of October, Ms Horton had developed Cushing’s syndrome
and subsequently required multiple hospital admissions and was unfit
for work for many months, the court was told. Mr Stuart-Smith said that
Lloydspharmacy had been negligent in not questioning the prescription
and in dispensing dexamethasone as prescribed.
Lloydspharmacy disputes both liability and the amount of her compensation
claim. The case, expected to last three weeks,
continues. |
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