Medication and Prescription Errors Can Be Catastrophic and Fatal: Ask Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers for Help
Most people have heard of medication errors, but often people think of incidences they have heard about in the hospital setting. While medication and prescription errors do happen in the hospital setting, another type of medication error is prescription errors due to medical malpractice. While a physician, pharmacist, or other medical professional never intend to make a prescription error, it happens all too often. According to the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, medication errors are among the most common medical mistakes, with over 1.5 million being harmed by medication errors every year.
If you or a loved one were harmed due to a medication or prescription error, you might be entitled to compensation for your injuries or the wrongful death of a loved one. Learn more by scheduling a FREE consultation with a prescription errors medical malpractice lawyer by locating one here at Medical Malpractice Universe.
What is Considered to be a Medication Error or Prescription Error?
The Food & Drug Administration cites the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, stating that a medication error is defined as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient, or consumer.”
How Do Prescription Drug Errors Occur?
Prescription drug errors can occur at many parts of the prescribing and dispensing process, including ordering, prescribing, transcribing, documenting, dispensing, or monitoring. Any small error can have catastrophic consequences and cause irreparable harm to patients. Examples of causes of prescription drug errors include the following:
- Transcribing errors
- Computer errors
- Failing to check the patient’s chart for any drugs they may be allergic to
- Miscalculating the dose
- Prescribing the wrong medication
- Failure to monitor a patient who is on a prescription drug that needs close monitoring (i.e. Coumadin)
- Selecting the wrong medication when the patient comes to pick the drug up
Examples of prescription errors include the following:
- Prescribing a dose that is too high or low for a patient
- Dispensing a drug that is mislabeled
- Prescribing or dispensing a drug for the wrong route (i.e. intramuscular instead of subcutaneous)
- Prescribing a drug that a patient has a known allergy to
- Failing to educate a patient about any potential side effects that may experience
- Prescribing a drug that has a reaction with another drug the patient tis taking
- Prescribing a drug for a patient that may cause serious harm given their current state of health (i.e. a drug that is toxic to the liver in a patient with liver failure)
- Improper mixing of a drug
- Dispensing the wrong medication to a patient, and
- Many other errors that could become catastrophic.
Who is Responsible for Prescription Errors?
There are a few people who can be held responsible for prescription errors. The first is the physician. If the physician prescribed the wrong medication, dose, frequency, or medication the patient is allergic to, they could be partially responsible. However, the pharmacist is the person dispensing the drug to the patient.
Therefore, it is their job to ensure that the correct medication is prescribed for the proper indication, frequency, and duration. If a pharmacist fails to check these things and dispenses the drug, patient harm could occur. Additionally, sometimes pharmacy technicians are responsible for dispensing the drug. If they grab the wrong person’s medication and give it to another patient, it can cause serious harm.
Were You Injured by Prescription Errors? We Can Help
Prescription errors can be severe and result in the wrongful death of an innocent person, especially when the errors are done to a frail, weak victim or really in need of the medications. If you or a loved one were seriously injured, or if prescription errors or medication mistakes wrongfully killed a loved one, call to speak with a prescription error medical malpractice lawyer located here at Medical Malpractice Universe.