Pharmacists, doctors and nurses have a duty to protect patients from harmful medication mistakes
They are responsible for ensuring that individuals receive the correct drug prescription and dosage. However, even the seemingly simple act of a doctor electronically sending a prescription to a pharmacy, or a pharmacist counting out pills, can put patients at risk of serious, and even fatal, injuries if a medication error occurs.
Have you suffered an injury from a medication error that could easily have been prevented? Briskman Briskman & Greenberg is committed to helping you secure fair compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses and other costs related to the medical mistake.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that 1.3 million Americans are injured every year
All from mistakes involving prescription drugs. Common pharmaceutical errors include filling the wrong dosage or failing to keep track of a patient’s medication history. For example, a doctor prescribing medication might overlook potential negative interactions that could occur with other drugs the patient is already taking. According to the Center for Disease Control, 82 percent of the general population takes at least one prescription medication and 29 percent takes five or more. With so many people relying on medication, and even taking multiple drugs simultaneously, patients are exposed to the risk of injury when the incorrect dosage is given without proper instructions.
Medication mistakes can happen in pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes, retail chain drug stores and other similar settings
Hospital pharmacies often use automated systems to dispense large quantities of medication for hospitalized patients. However, such methods are not always foolproof.
Pharmacists are trained professionals who are expected to ensure that individuals get the required medication in the correct dosage with the proper labels. That does not always happen. When pharmacists and health care providers are negligent in their duty of preventing medication mistakes, they can cause severe negative consequences for patients.
According to the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, a pharmacy error is a “preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm.” Such medication errors are also known as adverse drug events.
A pharmaceutical error can occur during any stage of the medication distribution process, including prescribing, repackaging, labeling, dispensing, administering or monitoring. For example, patients depend on physicians to prescribe the proper medications, but doctors make mistakes sometimes when ordering drugs. A pharmacist may put the wrong label on a medication bottle, leaving the patient without the correct instructions for taking the pills.
What causes pharmacy errors?
Medication mistakes can occur due to a variety of reasons including:
Pharmacies must implement quality control systems to account for such mistakes and improve patient safety. Pharmacists and technicians are responsible for checking every prescription for accuracy — including the drug name, strength, dosage and instructions for use — before it gets to the patient and has the potential to cause harm.
For example, a pharmacists may sometimes grab the drug on the shelf next over from the one they intended to take. Pharmacists often feel the pressure to work at a fast pace. Many are also required to work long hours. Working in a stressful environment can give rise to reckless conduct and medication errors that put the safety of patients at risk.
In addition, several drugs have complicated, similar-sounding names or medical abbreviations. For example, the medications Zantac and Zyrtec sound similar but treat different illnesses. Pharmacists may also have difficulty deciphering handwritten prescriptions from doctors. According to the FDA, the most common errors happen when a pharmacist or other medical professional incorrectly reads a prescription written by a doctor.
Wrong selections by the health care provider when using electronic medical records to dispense medications can result in errors as well. A person could also make mistakes when entering information into a computer. Pharmacists are obligated to verify each individual’s name, birth date, address and phone number in order to avoid patient misidentification.
Administering the wrong drugs or dosage or mislabeling prescription bottles can have serious consequences
Such errors can result in brain damage, organ failure or coma. Some dangerous and even fatal side effects include:
Allergic reactions: Some people are allergic to specific drugs or to a particular ingredient in the medication. Allergic reactions to drugs can be very serious and painful.
Adverse reactions: If patients are given the incorrect drug or dosage, or even expired medication, they could suffer harmful side effects.
Drug interactions: Pharmacists need to be cautious in ensuring that the prescribed drug will not react badly with other medications the patient may already be taking.
Medical malpractice occurs when a pharmacist or health care provider is negligent in filling a prescription with the correct medication and dosage. Physicians, nurses and pharmacists may be liable for prescribing the wrong medications, dispensing them improperly, giving insufficient instructions, failing to warn a patient about a drug’s side effects or other medication errors.
It is essential that medical personnel understand patients’ illnesses to prevent harmful drug interactions and other complications. In addition, doctors are obligated to inform patients about possible drug risks. They can be held responsible for the medication error if they fail to do so.
In most cases the pharmacy error could have been avoided whether through simply being more alert, taking responsibility for patients’ health care, using automated drug dispensing systems or implementing computerized entry to increase accuracy.
If you or a loved one experienced a medication error that worsened an existing condition instead of treating it, you may have a medical malpractice claim. When a medical mistake results from the negligence of the pharmacist, physician, nurse or hospital, you could be entitled to compensation. Damages can include medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and other expenses incurred due to the injury.
The experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Briskman Briskman & Greenberg are available to discuss the circumstances surrounding your particular pharmacy error and your options for pursing a malpractice claim. We are committed to helping families hold pharmacies and health care providers responsible for harmful pharmaceutical errors.
If you were injured or lost a loved one because of the carelessness of another, you may be able to receive compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.
When you call Briskman Briskman & Greenberg for a free consultation, you will speak directly to an experienced attorney in Chicago, usually one of the firm’s principals, who will assess the facts of your situation and advise you of your rights. Don’t delay getting your free legal consultation: if you fail to pursue your claim in a timely fashion, you could forever lose your rights.
