Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Kansas City Pharmacist Sends Shockwaves of Fear Through Cancer Patients

Aired August 17, 2001 - 11:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have this medical story that has really been sending some shockwaves and fear through hundreds of cancer patients.

A Kansas City pharmacist is right now accused of diluting chemotherapy drugs that he has been issuing. The FBI says that calls from worried patients have been pouring into their hot line for information.

Let's now talk about this with Michael Cohen. He is an expert in this. He is president and founder of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. He is in Philadelphia this morning.

Welcome. We thank you very much, Mr. Cohen, for coming in.

MICHAEL COHEN, PRESIDENT, INSTITUTE FOR SAFE MEDICATION PRACTICES: Good morning, Leon.

HARRIS: I have to ask you the same question I asked someone from the AHPA this morning. Have you ever heard of anything like this?

COHEN: This is just terrible. Actually, we have had one other situation where we had a physician who diluted some vaccines. So these things do happen. But we're really concerned that the possibility exists there might actually be a mistake here.

We can't believe that a pharmacist would do something like this. And I think that's echoed by my colleagues from around the country.

HARRIS: Yes. And at this point, any folks out there who have any questions they would like to pose to Mr. Cohen, please e-mail them to morning@cnn.com.

In the meantime, we will continue our discussion. What resource do patients have? Is there any mechanism for them or any place where they can actually take a prescription that they have right now, have it checked to see if it has been manipulated or diluted somehow, and then perhaps they can trace down another pharmacist like this?

COHEN: Yes. Well, first of all, I think we ought to point out that this is so unlikely to ever happen. I don't think patients should be concerned to the point where they would have to their medications tested. I can certainly understand why those in Kansas City would be concerned, but not around the country. And it should never stop them from proceeding with their treatment.

HARRIS: Well, so then, you don't think that there will be any other ripples from this that may affect any other part of the industry at all, or...

COHEN: Well, I certainly hope there are.

For example, I think we need new standards out there to -- and we need the state boards of pharmacy and departments of health to provide some oversight to make sure that those standards are followed.

I think, by and large, we don't have them in place around the country. And we can have mistakes more so than criminality. But those things do happen. And they happen in the hospital as well as outside.

HARRIS: Yes, what was remarkable about this situation to me was that it was uncovered by a pharmaceutical representative, one of the salesmen, basically.

COHEN: Yes, they routinely will track the medications that are used. And in this case, apparently, they found out that the purchasing did not equal what was actually being billed for.

HARRIS: Now, is it in your mind, or do you know whether or not that's a common practice for a rep to make checks of that kind?

COHEN: Yes, it is very common. They do it for marketing reasons.

HARRIS: OK, so they can find out...

COHEN: But in this case, it happened to pick it up. They were lucky. If it hadn't been this way or done like this, perhaps that would have been noticed so soon.

HARRIS: OK. So now the advice you have -- or any sort of insight you can pass on to any patients out there who may or may not be concerned this morning?

COHEN: Well, I think they should be concerned, not necessarily about these criminal acts that are really unlikely to happen. But mistakes do happen. And I think they should know what to do when they go to the doctor's office or the hospital. And we have posted on our Web site this morning, at www.ismp.org, tips to prevent the medical errors that are really in the control, I would say, of the patients and the consumers out there.

For example, they want to make sure that they're properly identified. In a doctor's office, when cancer drugs are being given, we are hoping that they would be identified with an armband and that the nurse or the doctor would check the armband rather than just call out their name. We have had people with the same name be confused. We have even had one patient that was so anxious to get out of the doctor's office that he agreed -- he actually came forward when they called someone else's name because he thought everybody got the same type of cancer chemotherapy. So I think identifying yourself properly, making sure that's done, giving the doctors and nurses information about your chronic conditions, drugs that you take, all of that is very important.

I think, also, you need to be very, very cognizant of the drugs you are taking, the doses that are given, how you are supposed to take them. Some of these cancer drugs are not just given once; they're given over a course of therapy and through various cycles. You need to know the dates that they're supposed to be given. You want to make sure that you don't get too much or too little.

And I think also you need to need to look at the appearance of these solutions. We had one person, for example, that was supposed to get a drug called Interferon, which is a clear solution. And the nurse walked into the room with a brown solution. And it turned, when the patient questioned it, it was inferon (ph), which is an iron injection.

So these things happen. And there are things patients can do to prevent them.

HARRIS: Yes, big difference there.

Michael Cohen of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, thank you very much for coming in this morning and hopefully putting some minds out there at ease.

COHEN: You are quite welcome.

HARRIS: Take care. Good luck to you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com