A Canadian mother is speaking out after a terrifying pharmacy error nearly led to her 9-year-old son being given a powerful opioid instead of his usual ADHD medication.
Sarah Paquin says her son, Declan, has been taking dextroamphetamine — a common stimulant used to treat ADHD — for years. On May 28, her husband, David, picked up what he thought was Declan’s medication from a Shoppers Drug Mart in Comox, British Columbia.
“It’s chaotic in the morning,” Sarah told PEOPLE. “If my husband had been distracted with our other two kids or just tired from being up with the baby the night before, this could have ended very differently.”
As he was about to give Declan his medicine, David checked the label — and realized the bottle contained someone else’s prescription: hydromorphone, a highly potent opioid. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, hydromorphone is up to eight times stronger than morphine and carries a high risk of overdose, especially for children.
The family was horrified. “Thankfully my husband caught it before he gave any to Declan,” Sarah said, noting the pills were 5 mg doses — a potentially lethal amount for a child. “It would have been devastating.”
Loblaw Companies Ltd., the parent company of Shoppers Drug Mart, acknowledged the mistake in a statement: “This was a case of human error, one that never should have happened. The store has procedures in place to avoid these kinds of issues and will be reviewing them with staff. The store owner has reached out to the family to apologize and outline steps to prevent it from happening again.”
Sarah says her son’s correct medication was later found in the pharmacy’s outgoing bin. But the damage to their trust was already done. “We won’t be going back there,” she said.
The family has filed a formal complaint with the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia, the province’s regulatory body. Sarah is pushing for stricter safeguards, especially when it comes to dispensing powerful drugs to children.
She’s now urging other families to always double-check their medications before leaving the pharmacy. “A simple mistake like this could cost someone their life.”
