DrugBuyers.Com: should I make an issue of it

If your doctor prescribed one medication and the pharmacist dispensed another that is not considered to be a therapeutic generic substitute (for which Vicodin is not an equivalent for Vicoprofen), the pharmacist has committed a dispensing error, commonly-referred to as a "misfill" that you are wholly entitled to have resolved. Depending on the state, if you bring it to his or her attention, the pharmacy is obligated to notify the state board and submit a abstract of the event as it happened.

If no other mitigating factor exists, for example, the label reads Vicoprofen, but you have had a recent fill of Vicodin by which you may have obtained the tablets that ultimately found their way in the bottle, the pharmacist is ethically obligated to correct his error and ensure that no harm to your health has occurred. If the prescription reads one thing while you received another, and the label reflects so, (without having received prior authorization from your doctor) then there is a clear audit trail in your favor, and neither the pharmacist nor the doctor have any valid reason to deny assisting you, provided you haven't already consumed the majority of the medication dispensed to you. If you have, you may have just waited too long before acting on your own behalf.

From the perspective of what MAY have happened, is that many pharmacies will attempt to communicate with doctors and dispense the most cost effective therapy, even if it does vary slightly from what was prescribed. Although Vicoprofen is generically available, many pharmacies do not carry the generic alternative, and many insurance plans either will not cover it, or will assess a substantially higher copay than for a generic hydrocodone-containing analgesic. Assuming that he intended to advise you, and that doing so wouldn't otherwise endanger your health, he may have dispensed the less expensive generic with the tacit intent that you would take 1.5 tablets if necessary.

Why wouldn't the pharmacy dispense the 7.5/750 equivalent? Who knows? They may have been out of stock, your insurance may have required a titrated dosage level, any one of a dozen "what if's" could be and are impossible to determine in this setting. However, there may be a plausible and valid reason for the substitution that occured, of which you do not know because you may not have yet asked the question. Nevertheless, if a dispensing error has occurred, regulators take a VERY serious role in documenting their occurrence. If there is no other plausible explanation, and you have acted in a timely manner, I can't imagine why you wouldn't find a very conciliatory and accommodating pharmacist when you make him aware of what has happened.

I hope this helps!