Treatment for illness or injury often involves prescription medication. The medication may be prescribed by your physician, a specialist, an ER doctor, or in a hospital or clinic setting. One of the most significant acts of trust a patient extends to their attending physician is the trust that the provider is delivering the right care, to the right person, in the right amount, at the right time. Sometimes, this doesn’t happen and medication errors occur which harm patient safety.
Medication Errors Can And Do Occur
Medication errors can be blamed on many different factors but they boil down to medical negligence. Medical negligence is defined as “the failure of a medical professional to provide treatment that is in line with the ‘medical standard of care,’ and those errors can lead to medical malpractice. Prescription drug errors fall into this category and anyone who is involved in prescribing the medication can be held liable for such errors. This includes doctors, nurses, pharmacies, hospitals, even the drug manufacturer.
Examples Of Prescription Drug Errors
Medical malpractice attorney Jeff Badgley has seen prescription drug errors in many forms during his 26 years of practicing in Orlando. Common errors include :
- prescribing the wrong medication such as may occur with misdiagnosis of disease or illness.
- administering too much or too little of the prescribed medication (i.e., wrong dosage or prescription strength)
- mislabeling the medication
- prescribing a medication that the patient is allergic to
- prescribing a medication that interacts negatively with other medications that the patient is taking, and
- failing to warn the patient of the common side effects of the medication.
Jeff’s experience in Orlando applies to other communities as well: “According to the Federal Drug Administration, one person dies every day, and over one million are injured every year in the United States from drug errors. The number of lawsuits that are actually filed is very small in comparison to these numbers,” says Jeff.
Also Read: Medication Administration Errors Affect Patient Safety
Consult A Medication Error Attorney If You Have Been Injured By A Prescription Error
The effects of a prescription error are wide-ranging. The damage can run from minimal to fatal. If you think you have been injured as a result of a medication error, contact an Orlando medication error attorney at Badgley Law Firm to speak with a Central Florida lawyer about your situation.
To learn more about pursuing a prescription error medical malpractice case, contact our Orlando lawyer, Jeff Badgley at Badgley Law Firm by calling 407-781-0420 or scheduling a free consultation online.