An inquest has heard how an error in a prescription meant a four-month-old baby received ten times the amount of medication she should have been given.

The Daily Mail reports that a doctor’s receptionist made out the prescription, but wrote 5mls instead of 0.5mls as the twice-daily dosage of diuretic medicine for a baby born with Down’s Syndrome and a hole in the heart.

The prescription was signed by a doctor who failed to pick up the error, the court was told.

A pharmacy technician queried the dosage, but the pharmacist went ahead and dispensed the medicine with the error.

The baby’s mother, Maxine Winfield, 30, gave her daughter Abbie at least two doses of the medication Furosemide, according to the instructions on the label.

Baby Abbie also received at least two further doses of the medicine in hospital before the mistake was picked up.

She was admitted to Sheffield Children's Hospital suffering from dehydration and septic shock on 1 May, 2006, where she died on 3 June.
 

Police launched an investigation into her death, and her parents were forced to leave their home after a hate campaign was launched against them.

An angry mob trashed the house – all of Abbie's clothes and toys were stolen, including the bootees she was wearing when she died.

After the incident, Abbie’s father, Neil Jones, took a fatal overdose.

Abbie had been prescribed a range of medicines because she had trouble breathing and keeping her feed down.

The court heard how the doctor’s receptionist who issued the prescription entered the incorrect dosage into a computer and then overrode a warning system that flags up prescription errors to prevent overdoses.

The pharmacist who dispensed the medication with the wrong label admitted he overheard his technician querying the dose, but did not ask him if he had confirmed it was correct with a doctor.

Acting as an expert opinion, former forensic pathologist Professor Christopher Milroy told the inquest that the incorrect dose could have caused the baby's death ‘and certainly contributed to it’.

The hearing continues.

© 5r1 Limited 2010