Pharmacists have an essential role in a patient’s well-being. They fill physicians’ prescriptions and keep track of each patient’s medications to ensure that there are no potentially dangerous conflicts between different prescription drugs prescribed by different doctors.

However, when pharmacists are negligent in their duty to consumers, and an injury or fatality ensues, the pharmaceutical malpractice lawyers at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC can help families hold pharmacies responsible.

Did you or a loved one suffer injury due to a prescription error caused by a medical professional? If so, our personal injury attorneys have experience with pharmacy mistakes and pharmacist malpractice cases across Illinois and are ready to assist you with getting the answers you deserve.

Call our medical malpractice law firm toll-free at (888) 424-5757 for a free legal consultation to determine your legal options and recover compensation.

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Call Our Chicago Pharmacy Error Attorneys

Complete our online case intake form for a free consultation of your Chicago pharmacy error case.

A skilled Illinois pharmacy injury lawyer will review the evidence and your health care information and advise you of your legal rights for pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit against a negligent pharmacy to recover fair compensation for your pain and suffering.

Our law office serves families in pharmacy error lawsuits across Illinois, and we can help you with your pharmacist malpractice case at no cost. Call us today at (888) 424-5757 to schedule your free legal consultation to facilitate legal action.

Like all of our personal injury and medical malpractice cases, we handle pharmacy error cases involving pharmacies on a contingency fee basis. There is never a legal fee charged unless we successfully obtain a recovery for you.

When you hire our law firm, you can also take comfort in that our medication error lawyers are esteemed members of the legal bar. Some of our experienced attorneys have been selected as Super Lawyers and are members of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Wrong Medication Mistakes by Health Professionals

A patient’s medical history and medication can be critical factors in their treatment. When wrong prescription medications are dispensed, it can cause serious health complications.

Medical Malpractice Due to Incorrect Dosage

If a pharmacist fails to fill a prescription appropriately or makes another mistake, you may have legal recourse. A patient’s injury or death caused by a pharmacy error can be devastating.

Pharmacy Errors Resulting from Wrong Dose

A pharmacist must dispense medications accurately and safely. They ensure patients receive the correct medication at the right dose. Unfortunately, pharmacy errors do occur, and these can have serious consequences.

In many cases, the pharmacist fills the prescription with the wrong medication due to the doctor’s illegible writing.

Frequency of Medication Errors Made by Healthcare Professionals

About 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events occur every year in the US. Many of these events are attributable to pharmacist errors made by pharmacists and other pharmacy personnel.

Pharmaceutical malpractice occurs when a pharmacist fills a prescription with the incorrect medication or incorrect dosage. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCCMERP) defines medication errors as preventable events that lead to patient harm.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 82% of Americans take at least one prescription medication and 29% take five or more meds for their health. Many people use these medications, frequently combining several at one time.

There’s a high risk of danger when these prescription drugs are not given in the correct dosage, administered without proper care instructions, or are not the correct prescribed drugs at all. The FDA [1] found that 1.3 million people are injured yearly due to medication errors at pharmacies, stores, hospitals, and nursing homes.

What to Expect When Filing Pharmacy Error Lawsuits

Filing a pharmacy malpractice lawsuit against a medical professional for negligence due to drug mistakes can ensure you are compensated for damages, injuries, or a loved one’s death.

Identify the Mistake

What happened? Did the pharmacy error involve an incorrect dose, drug, or another mistake? This information will serve as the foundation of your pharmacy malpractice lawsuit.

Determine Negligence

If it has been determined that there was a breach, you must establish whether that breach resulted in harm to the patient due to negligence or recklessness on behalf of the healthcare provider. Winning your pharmacy malpractice lawsuit might require expert testimony from a healthcare professional familiar with standard practices and protocols in similar situations.

Calculate Damages

Once negligence has been established, you must prove that any injuries resulted in financial damages that might include costs associated with medical bills related to injury treatment or rehabilitation, lost wages if the injury caused time away from work, and pain and suffering caused by physical or emotional distress due to injury.

File a Pharmacy Error Lawsuit Based on Pharmacy Malpractice

After all parties involved in the pharmacy malpractice have been identified and all relevant information gathered (such as medical records, witness accounts, etc.), it’s time for your pharmacy malpractice lawyer to file suit on your behalf for damages resulting from pharmacy errors caused by your care providers neglectful behavior.

At this point, they’ll also file an initial complaint describing not just why you’re suing but also detailing awards/damages sought. Once the malpractice claim has been filed, a copy must be served upon all parties involved—which includes defendant(s), witnesses, etc.—along with additional paperwork informing them of specific duties they need to fulfill, such as responding within particular time frames, etc.

Victims Can Schedule Free Consultations with Top Chicago Pharmacy Error Lawyers

If you have suffered an injury related to a suspected pharmacist mistake, save the medications and packaging and contact our pharmaceutical malpractice attorneys as soon as possible.

Speak with our legal team for legal services on your pharmacy error case.

If you were injured or a loved one died of a pharmacy error, contact our Chicago personal injury attorneys at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) to schedule an initial case evaluation.

During the initial consultation, all discussions you have with our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys will remain confidential through an attorney-client relationship.

Pharmacy Error FAQs

Our pharmacist error lawyers know that many people have unanswered questions about pharmacy malpractice and the legal options to ensure that the pharmacist is held liable for mistakes that lead to injury or death. An experienced attorney from our law firm has answered some of those questions below.

Should you have additional questions about pharmacy mistakes, we welcome you to contact our prescription error law firm for a free consultation.

What Is a Pharmacy Error?

Pharmacies must establish protocols to prevent a dispensing error [2] where discrepancies occur between the doctor’s prescription and the drug delivered by the pharmacy.

A dispensing error could include giving the drug to the wrong patient, giving out the wrong medicine, giving the wrong drug strength or the wrong medication quantity at the wrong time, giving expired medicine, or other mistakes.

How Do Drug Errors Affect Patients?

Medical mistakes are part of human error but are avoidable. These pharmacy errors tend to cause severe injury to the patient and possibly wrongful death.

Many patients who have experienced a severe injury due to a pharmacist error also experience other problems, including emotional, psychological, or financial stress.

What Do I Do If a Medication Error Occurs?

If a pharmacy fills a prescription incorrectly, and the patient takes the drug as ordered, they may experience a significant reaction that could produce life-threatening consequences.

Call Poison Control to learn what to do next if the pharmacy makes errors in filling prescriptions and the patient takes the medication.

The patient might have to seek urgent care for monitoring to ensure medical attention is quickly available should they have an immediate or long-term negative response.

Do Pharmacies Make Mistakes?

Pharmacies are run by pharmacists, clerks, or others, who can make accidental mistakes. Sometimes, a pharmacist makes an error due to negligence if the pharmacy is not following established protocols to prevent mistakes.

Unfortunately, pharmacy errors happen often. The pharmacist or clerk might fail to double-check the drug against the prescription before handing the order over to the patient, nursing home, or hospital.

Taking the wrong prescription, swallowing the wrong dose, or taking someone else’s drugs by mistake can cause serious injuries or death.

Where Do Most Medication Errors Occur?

A mistake involving filling or dispensing the medication can happen anywhere throughout the medical system. Many errors result from a doctor’s failure to precisely write a prescription.

The pharmacist may fail to accurately transcribe the prescription and fill the order with the wrong drug, dosage, number of pills, or instructions.

The patient might take the drug at the wrong time, at the wrong dosage, or after the doctor has told them to stop taking the meds.

How Do You Detect Medication Errors?

Detecting an adverse drug event is often revealed through direct observation or allergic reaction. The pharmacist may check the prescription before filling the order or give the wrong prescription orders to the patient when picking up the drug.

Some pharmacists, doctors, nurses, hospitals, and patients voluntarily report that a medication error has occurred. In catastrophic events, the detection of a drug error might be revealed when a patient has adverse drug interactions.

What Is the Legal Standard in Pharmacy Mistake Cases?

Pharmacist’s mistake cases are considered negligent medical malpractice. The negligence claims would be judged on a negligence standard. A jury would look at what happened in your Chicago, Illinois, negligence claim and compare it to what a reasonable pharmacist in the medical profession would have done under the circumstances.

The pharmacist’s duty (legal responsibility) involves filling a prescribed medication correctly, according to the doctor’s instructions. The pharmacy must ensure the patient receives the prescribed medication at the correct dosage and give proper instructions when dispensing medication. It is a vital part of the work they are supposed to perform.

Any pharmaceutical error that leads to the wrong prescription medication, dosages (too much or too little medication), or incorrect instructions that cause serious injury could be considered pharmacy malpractice.

Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer to Get Legal Help Today

Our consultations with a medical error attorney are free. At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, there is never a charge or fee unless we recover damages for you.

Contact our law office at (888) 424-5757 for a free consultation to discuss your case with an experienced Chicago, IL, personal injury attorney today. We are proud to receive many of our current cases from satisfied clients who refer their friends and family to our law office.

Our Chicago prescription errors lawyers represent clients throughout the United States, Illinois, and in Cook County, DuPage County, Kane County, Lake County, Will County, Arlington Heights, Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, Naperville, Orland Park, Schaumburg, Springfield, Wheaton, and Waukegan.

All confidential or sensitive information you share with our legal team about your medical malpractice claim remains private through an attorney-client relationship.

Resources: [1] FDA, [2] NIH

Chicago Pharmacy Error Lawsuit