A Dublin pharmacist has been admonished by a fitness to practise inquiry for selling an out-of-date bottle of cough mixture.
Declan Grogan of Jobstown Pharmacy in Tallaght accepted he was the pharmacist in charge on 24 October 2009 when Anne-Marie Grant bought a bottle of Benylin dual action syrup which was two years out of date.
In what was the first inquiry of its kind to be heard in public, the proceedings committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland heard today that Mr Grogan was not the pharmacist who sold the medicine but he did not dispute the fact, or that he was the pharmacist in charge.
Ms Grant of Suncroft Drive in Tallaght consumed the medication and also gave some to her daughter, who is now aged 12.
She said she noticed that it tasted peculiar and had a stomach upset, before noticing it was out-of-date.
Ms Grant returned the medicine, obtained a refund and an apology, before making a formal complaint to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.
Mr Grogan reiterated an apology to the complainant, and undertook not to allow such an incident to happen again.
He said stock was being reorganised in the shop at the time and the incident was an unfortunate co-incidence of events.
He has since conducted a review of how stock was arranged in the pharmacy.
The committee agreed the matter was one for admonishment rather than censure and said it wanted to emphasise the importance of pharmacists adhering to guidelines on removing and disposing of out-of-date medicines.
