Medication Errors & Pharmacy Mistakes - Chicago Lawyer
Many of us depend on medications in the hospital or from the pharmacy for a variety of conditions. When the wrong medication is ordered, given, or taken, the consequences can be disastrous. As discussed below, medication errors are often made by various health professionals including doctors, hospital staff, and pharmacy staff.
Medication Errors by Doctors
Doctors can make medication errors for many reasons. The most common medication errors by doctors include:
- Ordering the wrong medication for the patient’s age or condition
- Ordering the wrong medication because of misdiagnosis
- Ordering the wrong concentration or dosage
- Ordering medication that conflicts or is “contraindicated” with other medications
In addition, doctors may order the right medication but then fail to properly communicate their intentions in a written or verbal order. If there is a miscommunication or misunderstanding between the doctor and the hospital staff on the medication to be given, both may be at fault.
Medication Errors by Hospital Nurses and Other Hospital Staff
In some instances, the doctor ordered the right medication but, for one reasons or another, a nurse or other hospital staff fails to properly administer the medication. Occasionally, the hospital staff misheard or misunderstood the medication order. Other times, staff may have misread the doctor’s order. It is estimated there is at least one medication error per hospital per day. Approximately 7,000 deaths and 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals alone.
Pharmacy Mistakes and Misfiled Prescription Errors
When many of us drop off a prescription at the pharmacy, we trust the pharmacist will correctly fill their prescription exactly as their doctor ordered. Unfortunately, pharmacists can and do make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes have terrible consequences.
Pharmacy errors or misfiled prescriptions can occur at every stage of handling, which includes prescribing, dispensing, and administering the medication. Misfiled prescriptions can be the result of difficulty in reading the doctors’ orders, brand name mix-ups, confusion between similar looking drugs, or simple mental lapses by pharmacists or pharmacy technicians. These errors can cause life threatening injuries or even death.
Medication Error – Chicago Personal Injury Attorney
Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Jason M. Kroot has prosecuted or assisted in the prosecution of several major medication error cases, including a world record $21 million jury verdict for compensatory damages in a misfiled prescription case. In the event you or a loved one has suffered serious injury from a medication error, we invite you to contact Chicago medication error attorney Jason M. Kroot of Kroot Law, LLC, for a free consultation.