Medication errors are one of the leading causes of injury and death today, and one of the easiest to prevent. While common, not all medication errors factor into those higher numbers of injuries per year. Instead, certain errors are more common, which means patients must be aware of those risks and self-advocate to prevent themselves from becoming a statistic themselves.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
Why Are Medication Errors so Common?
According to Medicine Net, 1.3 million people are injured or die annually in the U.S. from these preventable errors. Medication errors are preventable, and they are classified as preventable events that can lead to injury or death by the use of inappropriate medication under the care of a healthcare professional.
Healthcare professionals include nurses, surgeons, physicians, pharmacists, and other industry professionals that oversee a patient’s care and administer the medication.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
What Are the More Common Types of Medication Injuries?
Prescription medications, including those prescribed to take at home and those administered in a hospital, are supposed to improve a patient’s quality of life, reduce serious risks from complications with a disease, and help treat illnesses or conditions. When these are given incorrectly or taken incorrectly, however, they can lead to adverse side effects, including death.
Some of the more common medication errors seen in the United States include:
Prescribing Medications with Dangerous Interactions
When you visit a physician and seek treatment, you are asked to provide a full list of medications you are taking (including over-the-counter medications). The reason for this list is because the physician, if prescribing something new, is required to review those medications and make sure there are no known interactions.
Certain medications can create serious reactions when taken together, such as organ failure, heart attack, stroke, or death. Therefore, physicians and the pharmacists filling the prescriptions need to make sure that they are not prescribing a medication with a dangerous interaction with other medications that you are already taking. Even certain over-the-counter medications, such as St. John’s Wort or Tylenol, can cause adverse reactions with prescription medications.
Prescribing the Wrong Dose (Too Much or Too Little)
The dosage of a prescription medication is critical. Both prescribing too little and too much can create adverse reactions.
For example, a patient is suffering from a life-threatening infection, but the physician prescribes too little antibiotics – allowing the infection to spread and the patient develops sepsis.
In other instances, prescribing too much of a medication may lead to an overdose or overdose complications. For example, using too much of a prescription pain medication could lead to respiratory failure and similar complications. Prescribing too much of a supplement may lead to kidney disease or even a heart attack.
Physicians must use caution when they pick dosages for their patients, considering their weight, age, and the reasons for the medication.
Prescribing the Wrong Medication
Another common error with medications is when the patient is either prescribed the wrong medication or the pharmacy distributes the wrong medication.
When the Pharmacy Dispenses the Wrong Medication
The pharmacy might dispense the incorrect medication either because they misread the doctor’s prescription, or because they chose a medication that looked similar to another. Also, when prescriptions are placed in the wrong shelves in a pharmacy, technicians may pull the wrong prescription from that shelf and distribute an incorrect medication to the patient.
When the Physician Prescribes the Wrong Medication
The physician could prescribe the wrong medication entirely, either from spelling it incorrectly or accidentally writing a prescription for one patient they intended to use on another.
Not Discussing How to Take the Prescription
Physicians must also tell their patients how to properly take their medication, and make sure that dosage instructions are correct. Some medications may require that a patient take it at certain times of the day, such as taking a medication in the morning and then again before bed. Other medications cannot be taken during the day because they make a patient too drowsy. Therefore, physicians need to make sure their patient knows to take it before bed to avoid any injury as a result of the drowsy side effects.
Off-Label Use of a Medication
Numerous medications are used off label. Off label refers to when a physician or even a drug company pushes a medication to treat a condition that it was not originally intended to treat or approved to treat. While some off-label uses are harmless, other times they can be serious.
Doctors are free to prescribe a drug as long as they feel it is medically appropriate. And even if the FDA has not approved that drug for a specific treatment, a physician can prescribe it when there is an acceptable reason for doing so.
A common off-label use example would be the use of beta-blockers and vasodilators for chronic headaches and migraines. These prescription medications were not initially approved by the FDA for this use, but physicians prescribe them frequently to cure this condition.
In most cases, physicians will prescribe off-label with extreme caution, and only after reading studies and researching the use of the medication themselves. Other times, doctors are not so cautious. And when they throw caution to the wind, it leads to serious interactions.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
Injured by a Medication Error? You Have Rights
If you or a loved one suffered a dangerous adverse reaction to a medication error, or you lost a loved one from a preventable medication error, you have the right to seek compensation for those injuries and any costs associated with them.
When physicians deviate from acceptable medical standards as part of their care, they are considered negligent. Cases of negligence, when involving medical providers, result in malpractice claims.
To explore your options and see if you have a case against your medical provider, contact attorney Seth Gladstein at the Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC, today.
Our team can help you protect your rights and hold physicians accountable when the unthinkable happens due to negligent care.
Get started with a no-obligation case evaluation by calling 502-791-9000 or requesting your appointment online.
