Infant sickened by wrong prescription

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A mother panicked when she realized her 3-month-old, premature son was being given medication 15 times stronger than he should be getting.

Theresa Roma followed the directions on the prescription bottle of generic Zantac to treat Louis' reflux. But a day later, the premature infant was sick and she was worried.

"I got the medication Wednesday and then by Thursday night I could tell my son wasn't acting his normal self. Every time I changed his diaper it was full of diarrhea. He was upset; his stomach was gurgling constantly; he was crying a lot more," Roma recalled.

She called her doctor and read the bottle over the phone, and that's when she realized there had been a big mistake.

Roma said, "The prescription was for 7.5 milligrams and I ended up getting a prescription for 7.5 milliliters, which when you convert it is 15 times more than what was prescribed by the doctor."

She went to the pharmacy to check the prescription and see where the problem occurred.

"The doctor wrote it correctly," Roma said. "It was Rite Aid that did the fault."

He's 7.5 pounds, so to have something that dramatic happen to him, it's pretty scary," Roma added.

The main concern was dehydration. Roma has kept a close eye on Louis and he seems to be doing fine, but she is still frustrated the error was made.

Rite Aid released a statement, saying in part, "We are currently investigating the incident and will take the appropriate actions to ensure this doesn't happen again, including having local management visit the store."

A Rite Aid spokesperson says they've contacted the family to apologize and make sure the baby is okay, but Roma says she was insulted by the pharmacy.

"They called me back and offered me a Rite Aid gift card for my troubles. And I said I am not interested in a Rite Aid gift card, I am not coming back to Rite Aid. And they said well how about Amazon or iTunes? At that point I was kind of insulted and I said that's enough of this," said Roma.