You are expected to benefit from medications. You presume that the prescriptions issued to you by doctors are accurate and safe to take and that they will make you feel better, whether you are taking an antibiotic to treat an infection, blood pressure medication to keep your levels in balance or an antidepressant to aid with your mood. Unfortunately, drug mistakes are all too often in the American healthcare system, and occasionally they cause major harm or even death. Any step in the distribution process, from the initial prescription through the pharmacy personnel, filling it to the hospital nurse manually dispensing meds, might result in a medication error. Click here to know more about medication errors and how you can file a lawsuit if you have suffered from one.
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What Kinds of Medication Errors Occur Most Frequently?
Medication mistakes can take various forms and happen at all levels of the healthcare system.
- Prescribing the incorrect drug for the incorrect kind of treatment
- Prescribing medicine in a dosage that is not appropriate (such as too much or too little)
- Physically giving the patient the incorrect medication
- In a hospital, administering the patient’s medication at the wrong dosage
- Without getting a history of the patient before prescribing
- Prescribing drugs with risky interactions
- Not alerting a patient about the dangers of a medicine they are prescribed a medication they are allergic to
- Obtaining a prescription for a non-approved treatment
Consequences of Prescribing the Wrong Medication to a Patient
Fatalities
A prescription error may result in fatalities or severe injuries, among other problems. Because the majority of these injuries are preventable, sufferers must be aware of their legal rights. You might be eligible for compensation if a prescription error caused harm to you or a loved one.
Change in Internal Procedures
Your right to hold the healthcare provider or facility accountable for your injury is another benefit; presumably, this will prompt a change in internal procedures that will shield other patients from becoming victims. Simply entering the incorrect dosage results in the loss of life for the sufferer and their loved ones.
New Conditions
It can sometimes result in a brand-new, transient or permanent condition, like itchiness, rashes, or skin deformity.
Shame and Guilt
Inadvertently prescribing the incorrect prescription to a patient or having a near-miss could cause embarrassment, guilt, and self-doubt among medical professionals. This is known as the second victim, and the outcome of this syndrome can be fatal: a senior nurse committed suicide after giving a vulnerable baby ten times the recommended amount of calcium chloride.
Lawsuit
Patients or patients’ families may also file a personal injury lawsuit against the healthcare institution where the healthcare provider works in addition to the individual healthcare provider.
Fees
Accused parties or hospitals may have to pay hefty legal fees and potential settlement costs.
Loss of Productivity
Additionally, hospitals might have to cover the lost productivity of the staff members who made a mistake, as well as the increased cost of treating patients for unanticipatedly long hospital stays.
