Pharmacy must pay $7.7 million for giving five times the proper dose, orders S.C. jury

South Carolina jury ordered a pharmacy to pay $7.7 million after it gave a customer a 62-pill dose of prednisone to treat slight rejection of her kidney transplant. The verdict included $5 million in punitive damages for the woman, whose kidney failed as a result of the massive overdose.

Tiffany Phillips, now 28, was prescribed a 250 mg dose of the steroid prednisone every other day. When she tried to fill the prescription at Eckerd's, the pharmacy realized it didn't have enough pills and transferred the prescription to CVS.

But somewhere in that communication the 250 mg dose became 1250 mg - five times the proper dose.

Phillips sued both Eckerd and CVS for negligence, according to Ronnie Crosby of Lancaster. S.C., who tried the case along with Paul Detrick.

The plaintiffs argued that the CVS computer immediately recognized the dosage as unusually high and the pharmacist had to override clear warnings from the computer in order to fill the prescription.