Medication Mistakes Can Kill

We know that you expect the healthcare professionals you see to keep you safe and make you better. Unfortunately, there are times when they make your situation worse. One place that many errors occur is at the pharmacy with your medications. Whether it is because the pharmacist was tired after a long day or that they simply missed a step, pharmacy mistakes happen.

We found an article in which pharmacists spoke about their mistakes. We will cover some of them here:

1. One pharmacist accidentally keyed in 1 teaspoon instead of 1mL for dosage instructions of Tussionex and did not recheck his instructions. This could have been a fatal mistake.
2. A pharmacist refilled a patient’s last medication they had filled per a voice mail the patient left. They did refill it but did not realize there was an entirely new medication on file and the patient had been discontinued from the previous one. The patient was having adverse reactions by the time the mistake was discovered.
3. A pharmacist almost gave the wrong infusion of medicines to be given to 46 babies in neonatal care.
4. A new pharmacy school graduate miscalculated a pediatric dilution and gave someone 10 times the dosage.

The bottom line is that pharmacists make mistakes, but at The Weitz Firm, LLC, we know that they are not the only ones who make medication errors. If you need a Philadelphia medications error attorney, contact us today.

The Statistics Of Errors

Studies show us that medication mistakes cause more than 7,000 annual deaths in the US. These numbers do not include the multitude of irreparably harm caused to survivors of medication mistakes.  We often see these errors occur because of a patient:

• receives the wrong medication.
• receives the wrong dosage of their medication.
• does not receive their medication at all.

When a medication order is given by a doctor, it is relayed to a pharmacist who then checks the order and is supposed to ensure that there are no contraindications to giving that med based on a patient’s history or other medications they are taking. Of course, a doctor should also have checked on this as well.

A pharmacist then dispenses the medication and a nurse is supposed to give it based on the dosage requirement. You will notice that everyone in this system has a check on themselves except the nurses.

When a patient leaves a hospital, they leave with orders and prescriptions. Unfortunately, nearly 30% of patients have at least one medication error on their discharge papers.

Moving Forward Now

If you or a loved one have been the victim of a medication error caused by a healthcare professional, seek legal assistance as soon as possible. At The Weitz Firm, LLC, we want to make sure that you get all of the compensation you deserve. This can include:

• medical bills
• pain and suffering damages
• punitive damages

If you need a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney, you can contact us for a free consultation by clicking here or calling 267-587-6240.