WCPO-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, reports on what can only be described as a sad case for everyone.
Eric Cropp, a pharmacist at the time of the incident, gave an overdose of saline to a two-year-old cancer patient, resulting in her death. His sentence: six months in jail, six months house arrest, and three years probation including 400 hours of community service. (The article does not mention a fine.)
It’s sad for the family, who saw their young daughter almost make it through cancer treatments, only to perish in a truly unbecoming fashion.
And it’s sad for Cropp, who is not only facing a forced career change after losing his license, but now has to deal with what will now be uncomfortable questions about criminal background when applying for other jobs.
Now, some of you out there will go on about how he only got three years probation, so he got off easy, etc. But the true sentence here is not the three years’ probation and the jail time.
Even if not actually convicted (it does not state whether he has gotten some kind of sentence that is not supposed to result in an actual conviction, such as deferred adjudication like we have in Texas), Cropp is getting what is in effect a life sentence. Even after having completed his probation it is likely that despite anything his lawyer told him, he’ll still have a record. If Ohio’s public records system is anything like the one in Texas, the average person unwilling to actually chase down the details will not even know that the record for Cropp is a “not-a-conviction-that-looks-like-one.”
The really sad part? According to a USA Today story from 2008 February, Cropp isn’t even the one that actually made the fatal mistake of substituting a 23.4% saline solution bag for a 0.9% bag. The error was actually made by Katherine Dudash, the pharmacy technician. But Cropp bears the full brunt of responsibility because he missed the error and because Ohio does not regulate pharmacy technicians.
I don’t excuse the mistakes that Cropp did make, or to say it’s okay for anyone to make the kind of mistake that results in loss of life. But neither do I excuse the unfairness towards Eric Cropp and the completely backwards laws that let Katherine Dudash get off scot free.
The only happy ending to this, is apparently Dudash also now holds a non-pharmacy job (she went back to work at CVS after the incident and changed careers some time later). But she’s not going to have to deal with having to check yes to job applications that ask “have you ever pleaded guilty or no contest to a felony?” or similar questions. That’s unfair and thoughtless towards someone who spent years training to become a pharmacist. That’s what makes me sick.
[...] finished. WHO in the world makes NS from hypertonic????? The tech was planning her wedding. She gets to resume her life with no issues at all. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst pain you [...]
This shows you what kind of profession pharmacy has become. If Mr. Cropp was a physician, what would likely have happened?- a slap in the wrist and a small fine. Pharmacists do not stick together, never have, and but for the grace of God this could have happened to most of us. Not withstanding the terrible events, he made an error of judgement brought out by the fact that pharmacists are overworked and delegate to much to technicians. Unfortunately for the future, more technicians and fewer pharmacists will be the norm,and mistakes like this will be more likely to happen. Are pharmacists really that "lucky" Look at the real world and what is happening for a change!
Thanks for the unique insight.
For the record, this is the first time I have ever commented on a pharmacy-related story. I was commenting more from the perspective of "justice run amok" than "pharmacists are getting screwed." Not to say I disagree with the latter perspective at all, of course.
Are there more cases like this involving the pharmacy profession that need light shined upon them?
Fortunately 'Katherine Dudash' is a pretty unique name. From Ohio. Google is our friend, hopefully anyone going to hire her will check her name out and stuff like this will come to the top. What goes around comes around, Kate.
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