By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

A pregnant woman who thought she was picking up an antibiotic at the local drugstore was horrified to learn that she received the wrong prescription and had swallowed an abortion drug.

ABC7News in Denver is reporting that Mareena Silva is now in danger of losing her unborn child after ingesting methotrexate, a drug used to induce early term abortions.

Silva, who is six weeks pregnant with her first child, realized something was wrong when she started feeling nauseous shortly after taking the drug last Thursday.

Concerned, she took another look at the prescription bottle and realized it was for a woman with a similar name.

“My doctor immediately told me to try and make myself vomit to see if I could get the medicine to come back up,” Silva said.

When that didn’t work, she was rushed to a local hospital where they gave her charcoal to absorb the drug.

“For all this to happen now is really overwhelming,” said Silva. “This is my first child, so it’s really difficult to deal with.”

The Ft. Lupton Safeway, which dispensed the drug to Silva, immediately admitted its mistake.

“When the pharmacist became aware of what happened, he worked with the patient and with her physicians to minimize any possible health consequences to the patient and her unborn child,” the company said in a statement to 7NEWS.

“We have extended our sincere apologies to the customer, and offered to pay any medical expenses incurred as a result of a prescription error. We are also very concerned about how this happened and we are conducting a full and complete investigation.”
 
“Sorry’s not going to cut it,” Silva said. “I’m going to have to deal with this for a long time. My baby could have deformities. There’s a lot that goes with it.”

Doctors are keeping a close eye on Silva because there is still a chance she could miscarry, or that her child will suffer severe birth defects.

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