Pharmacists have an essential role in patients’ well-being: filling physicians’ prescriptions and keeping track of all the medications each patient takes to assure there are no contra-indications in mixing different drugs prescribed by different doctors.
In the United States, about 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events occur every year — many of which are attributable to errors made by pharmacists. Pharmaceutical malpractice is when a pharmacist fills a prescription with the wrong medication or incorrect dosage. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCCMERP) defines a medication error 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 health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use.”
Even relatively minor deviations from the scripted medication can result in patient injury or death. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers represents individuals who have been harmed or killed due to pharmacy error.
Common pharmacy errors include:
- Failing to advise or warn of potentially dangerous drug side-effects
- Dispensing the wrong medications
- Incorrectly labeling medication
- Providing incorrect medication dosage
- Filling multiple medications with known adverse reactions
- Failing to provide adequate instructions regarding use of a drug
If you suffered an injury related to a pharmacy error, we suggest that you save the medications and packaging. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers invites you to speak with our pharmacy misfill lawyers for a free consultation regarding the circumstances surrounding your particular pharmacy error today.
Related materials from Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers:
Prescription drugs are invaluable tools in the practice of medicine, used to treat numerous illnesses and diseases. However, prescription errors can result in serious injury and death. In the United States, about 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events occur every year.
Pharmaceutical malpractice can occur when a doctor prescribes the wrong medication or incorrect dose or when a pharmacist fills the wrong medication or dosage. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) defines a medication error as….
An error by an institutional pharmacy, HealthDirect, is responsible for the death of a 94-year old patient at a New York nursing home. According to New York Health Department reports, the woman was to receive methimazole, to treat her thyroid condition, but pharmacists at HealthDirect filled the prescription with metolazone– a significantly different medication used to treat blood pressure.
In addition to the error my by the pharmacy, additional errors were made by Cayuga County Nursing Home when they administered the wrong medication to the woman over the course of 18 days. Shortly after the woman received the incorrect drugs, she died due heart problems brought about by kidney failure….
Poor communication appears to be to blame for the death of a woman at a Minnesota nursing home who was administered a dose of medication ten times higherthan prescribed by her doctor.
According to news reports concerning this incident, a transcription error is likely to blame for the patient receiving 80-milliequivalent doses of potassium over an eight day period while she was a patient at Bethany Home of Alexandria. A state investigation determined that the improper potassium dose was to blame for her cardiac arrest….
Pharmacists play an essential role in the well being of nursing home patients by filling physicians prescriptions and in many cases keeping track of all the medications each patient takes to assure there are no contraindications in mixing different drugs.
Obviously, keeping track of medications is an difficult but important job. Perhaps the first step towards assuring the safety of nursing home patients who are reliant on prescription drugs is for a pharmacist to assure that the drug contained within a package really is what it should be….