Woman Claims Wrong Prescription Given by IHS Harmful to her
Lakota Journal
Feb 2003
by Kim Karaff, Lakota Journal Martin Bureau
ROSEBUD--What began as a routine visit for flu-like symptoms to the IHS in Rosebud last December for Merna Roubideaux has turned into a series of health concerns and hospital visits. When she went to the pharmacy to pick up her prescriptions that day, IHS personnel handed her one bottle that was not medicine that had been prescribed for her. She believes that twenty days later she ended up in the emergency room because of that medicine.
"I trusted them," she said, explaining why she did not closely examine the bottle before taking the medication. She says she read the dosage information and did not notice that the bottle bore the name of another patient.
"When I got the medicine, they handed it to me bottle by bottle and so I know that they looked at it as they put it in the bag." On that day, Roubideaux says that she was given an antibiotic, nasal spray, pain pills (Naprine and Ibuprofen) for her arthritis, various vitamins and over the counter medication for indigestion.
The medication that she should not have been given that day, hydrochlorthiazide, is a diuretic, prescribed to treat excessive fluid accumulation and swelling caused by heart failure, cirrhosis or chronic kidney failure. It is often also used to treat high blood pressure.
Robideaux did not suffer from any of those conditions. She has suffered from arthritis for some time, and on that day had what she said was a sinus infection.
"My heart is fine and I have never been told that anything was wrong with my blood pressure. I have arthritis and take Naprine for it. I also take the vitamins that IHS gives me. I also get Mylanta and Tums from them. That's all," Robideaux said.
After being on the hydrochlorthiazide for several days, Roubideaux began to suffer from dizziness and severe headaches, which she said became increasingly severe as time went on.
According to information about the drug, hydrochlothiazide, side effects can include dizziness, nausea headaches and severe allergic reactions. The drug can also raise blood sugar levels, and patients on the medication should have regular blood tests performed to monitor kidney and electrolyte function while on the medication.
"I didn't know what was happening to me," she said. "I went to prayer meetings and prayed that I would be healed."
On January 6th, she ended up in the emergency room. She had been increasingly dizzy and fell on her back. It was then that her daughter took a closer look at the medications and found that one bottle has someone else's name on it.
"I had no idea what the medicine was. I had no way to find
out. I just know that I was scared," Roubideaux said.
The emerency room doctor prescribed a medicine, meclizine, which is used to treat dizziness and told her to come back to IHS for further tests.
At this point, Roubideaux says she was afraid to take any medications outside of the Naprine and vitamins that she normally took.
"I just didn't know what to do. I still had headaches and felt dizzy. I was scared," she said.
When she returned to IHS, she says she showed the doctor the bottle and that the doctor did not return the bottle to her. She asked for the bottle, but was ignored.
"I knew I had the rights to that bottle and I went to get it," she said.
She went to Chris Bordeaux, IHS Patient Advocate, who took her to the pharmacy to obtain the return of the bottle.
"The pharmacist kept asking me, 'Why do you want the bottle. Are you going to sue me?'" Roubideaux said.
"Finally he took the remaining ten pills out of the bottle and gave me the bottle. He said, 'Go ahead and sue me. It was an honest mistake.'" She said, "I thought he was very disrespectful of me."
"I don't think they wanted to listen to me or believe me, but I did get the bottle back and I took it to legal aid because by then I was angry," Roubideaux said.
According to Roubideaux, Great Plains Legal Aid said they could not help her but gave her a referral to the South Dakota State Bar Association. The referral paper they gave her has the word "malpractice" written on it, she says.
On January 15th, Roubideaux was given prescriptions for Lorazepam and Paroxetine, both medications used to treat anxiety and panic attacks. She was also sent to a mental health counselor who she says has been helpful. She says that she is not taking the medications that IHS gave her on that day either.
"I don't know what these medicines are, and they don't explain it to me. I don't really trust them anymore."
"Where else can I go?" she asked, referring to IHS. "I don't have health insurance or the money to get my own doctor."
She has also undergone an EKG and a CAT scan.
"I still have the headaches," she said. "I don't know why they aren't ending, but they say my heart is fine."
Roubideaux says that she is not just concerned with herself and her medical problems.
"How often does something like this happen? I don't want this to happen to other people, especially our elderly. I don't know what would have happened if I kept on taking those pills," she said.
According to her daughter, who was contacted right before press time, nothing abnormal was found on the CAT scan that Roubideaux underwent.
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