| Kathleen Brown, who lives in the Lochee area, takes medication every day to prevent kidney rejection, including Tacrolimus, to help suppress the immune system.
Because a patient’s immune system sees the new organ as foreign tissue, Mrs Brown must take one Tacrolimus every night.
The 43-year-old went to Boots in Lochee for three boxes of Tacrolimus, each containing 30 tablets, and found out, after a trip to Ninewells Hospital, that 72 of the pills would have expired by the end of the month.
Mrs Brown, who received her new kidney in February 2006, said, You assume the drugs you are given will be in date.
“I take a combination of drugs, including one Tacrolimus every night. I go for a check-up every 12 weeks and if it wasn’t for the pharmacist at Ninewells, I don’t know what might have happened.
“I’m very angry. If they don’t work I could lose my kidney.
“Boots said they were awfully sorry and it was unusual.
“I just hope nobody else has them without realising they are nearing the end of their lifespan.”
A spokeswoman for Boots said, “We take the dispensing of medicines very seriously.
“Boots has a number of procedures and safety checks and it would appear that on this occasion we dispensed medication that had an expiry date of 05/07.
“We will be carrying out a full investigation to establish how this happened and reassure our customers this is a one-off incident.” |
