Did Your Doctor Make A Medication Error?

Medication errors are mistakes by medical practitioners that can result in severe and permanent injury or death. These types of errors can occur at any point during the process of selecting, prescribing, and dispensing medications to patients and are not uncommon. It can be the administration of the wrong drug, prescribing the incorrect dose of a drug, bad interactions with other drugs that shouldn’t have been prescribed together, and various other problems related to medication.

Medication errors are responsible for about 7,000 fatalities and many additional serious injuries in the U.S. each year, showing they do occur with some notable frequency. If you suffered injuries due to a medication error, you need advice and representation from an experienced attorney right away.

How Errors Happen

Many errors can be made by nurses and doctors when administering medication to patients in a hospital, although pharmacy error contributes to this problem as well. Often, medication errors occur when a patient is transferred between medical professionals, and the two professionals fail to fully communicate to one another what medications and dosages the patient was put on before the transfer.

Medication reconciliation is an important policy for dealing with the increased risks present during transition periods of medical care, such as admissions, transfers within, and discharges from hospitals and other medical institutions. It dictates a thorough comparison of patient medication orders in these situations to avoid dosing errors, drug interactions, duplications, omissions, etc. However, this practice is not always observed nor always executed successfully.

Potential medication errors can include instances such as:

• A doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or another medical personnel prescribes, administers, or gives the wrong drug to a patient.
• Crucial information about the patient, such as allergies, test results, or medical history, is not taken into consideration before prescribing a drug.
• A doctor misdiagnoses the patient and consequently prescribes medication that may be harmful or unsuitable.
• A doctor fails to account for a child’s size and weight when prescribing or administering medication.
• Current warnings about the medication are not taken into consideration by the prescribing doctor.
• Inaccurate labeling or complete lack of a label provides incomplete information to the patient.
• Drugs are given to the wrong patient.
• Drugs are improperly administered to the patient.

Because of the complex chemical nature of medications, the possibility of making a mistake is always present—and those mistakes, even minor ones, can have serious ramifications for patients.

Know Your Rights

If you are the victim of a medication error by a medical professional that has left you injured or a loved one deceased, you have a right to compensation. Medication error lawsuits are a type of medical malpractice lawsuit. This type of case can be successful if your attorney can prove that the medical professional responsible for the error was negligent and did not meet the required standard of patient care.

Damages available to injured patients can include:

• Medical expenses associated with the injuries or death
• Lost income or wages
• Pain and suffering
• Compensation for other lasting non-economic detrimental impacts on their life
• Out-of-pocket expenses incurred due to the prescribing healthcare professional’s negligence
• Wrongful death

A Las Vegas Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help

At Breeden Malpractice & Injury Law, our attorneys are highly skilled in handling cases involving medication errors. We have extensive experience with these types of lawsuits and will fight tooth and nail to get patients the financial compensation they deserve. Contact us by going online or by calling (702) 819-7770 today to speak to one of our qualified attorneys.