GCXZ

Her son Lee, 41, said: "We were told it was not in the public interest to prosecute, but how can people be allowed to get away with killing our mother? That's what it amounts to.

"I work as a gas meter reader, I am expected to spot any problems at customers' houses. If I checked a meter and then it blew up the next day, I'd be held accountable. Yet here, our mum has been killed, and it's simply swept under the carpet. It's disgraceful."

An inquest at Flax Bourton Coroners Court near Bristol heard that Mrs Britton had visited the pharmacy in August 2013 to pick up her regular prescription of Prednisolone, which she used to control her Crohn's Disease and breathing difficulties.

Instead she was given Gliclazide, a diabetes medication. She had been taking it for several weeks when she was found unconscious at home next to a packet of the pills and was rushed to hospital on October. She died on November 20.

The pharmacist apologised to the family from the witness box, but insisted she had followed all the correct procedures.

Tammy Haskins, Mrs Britton's daughter, said she may not have noticed that she had been given the wrong pills because the two different tablets looked similar.

"My mum was sharp and intelligent and knew when she needed her tablets and how many she had to take," she said.

"The problem was these tablets for diabetes looked very similar to those she normally took. They were the same colour and a similar size.

"My mum has lost her life because somebody simply failed to check the medication they were giving out was correct."

Recording a narrative conclusion, Maria Voisin, the coroner, said: "She died of hypoxic brain injury as a result of profound hypoglycaemia caused by her having taken Gliclazide tablets dispensed for her in error by a pharmacist."

A spokesman for Jhoots said: "A dispensing error occurred at our Pool Road Pharmacy in Bristol on 2nd August 2013.

"Everyone at Jhoots is very saddened by this tragic event. We wish to say how sorry we are for what has happened.

"We do not wish to prejudice any further investigations by commenting further at this time."

Neil Patel, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said the industry ensures that all drugs are packaged distinctly, but it would be impossible to make every type of pill a different shape or colour.

"The vast majority of medicines in tablet form will be white and round," he said. What we usually focus on is making sure the packaging is different.

"[There are] tens of thousands of drugs that are produced and making each and every tablet look different would be very difficult."