A Mississauga mom is sharing a terrifying story of a trip to the pharmacy that led to a tragic death.
Melissa Sheldrick's 8-year-old son Andrew died after he was given the wrong medication by a pharmacist.
Andrew was taking medication for a sleep disorder, but the pharmacist mistakenly gave him a muscle relaxant at a dose that would be toxic for an adult.
The family is now calling for changes to Ontario laws to improve safety.
There are no clear statistics in the province on how many times these kinds of errors happen.
A non-profit organization that looks at medication safety estimates, based on U.S. data, that 700 Canadians die each year from medication mistakes.
The issue is that pharmacists don't have to report errors, so Andrew's mom has started a petition asking the health ministry to make that mandatory.
The family has also filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the pharmacy and unnamed pharmacist.
NEWSTALK 1010 legal analyst Boris Bytensky says the pharmacy will likely have to pay up, but it's very rare for damages in Canada to climb over a million dollars for a wrongful death.