Ohio Medication Error Lawyer

Medication Mistakes & Malpractice

Various prescription drugs are given to patients to treat injuries and diseases, manage symptoms, and relieve pain. Although a process exists to guide prescribing and dispensing drugs to individuals, human error and negligence can occur. Such medication errors can result in improper prescriptions being filled, excessive dosages, dangerous drug combinations, and other mistakes that can result in serious harm.

Some of the most serious errors involving medications given to patients can result in hospitalization, severe health problems, hospitalization, permanent disability, and in the worst cases, death.

At Kisling, Nestico & Redick, our experienced medical malpractice attorneys provide compassionate and intelligent representation to our clients who have suffered injury due to one or more medication errors. We will fight on your behalf to recover the rightful compensation you are owed due to the negligence or mistake that caused your harm.

Call us today at 1-800-HURT-NOW or contact us to request a free case evaluation.

Common Medication Errors

Examples of the actions or failures to take action that can constitute making a medication error include the following:

• Ordering the wrong medication
• Giving the wrong medication
• Providing the wrong dosage
• Failing to obtain a patient’s medical history
• Failing to administer or deliver medication within the necessary time frame
• Miscommunication between doctors and pharmacists
• Failing to provide adequate fluids with administered medications
• Failing to recognize or discover a patient’s drug allergies
• Failing to protect a patient against harmful combinations of drugs
• Prescribing medication to someone with a history of prescription medication abuse
• Failing to “shake well”
• Mistakenly crushing medications
• Failing to explain possible side effects to a patient
• Incorrectly interpreting and translating a doctor’s handwritten prescription
• Providing an incorrect label on drug packaging

Negative Reactions to Medication Errors

Patients trust that their medical professionals will provide them with the appropriate medication to make them feel better and/or heal. When a medication error occurs, patients can suffer from dangerous consequences.

Patients trust their medical professionals to give them the appropriate medications so that they might alleviate pain and discomfort or obtain the solution to a particular medical condition. However, when a medication error occurs, sometimes the consequences can be very serious for the patient, including:

• Allergic reactions
• Harm to the liver, kidneys, or other internal organs
• Heart attack
• Brain injuries
• Extreme fatigue
• Temporary or permanent disability
• Anaphylactic shock
• Paralysis
• Seizures
• Severe pain

What Causes Medication Errors?

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has estimated that hundreds of thousands of individuals sustain injuries due to medication errors every year. Among these, nearly 7,000 fatalities occur. Individuals over the age of 60 are more often prescribed multiple numbers of prescription medications than younger individuals, so they are more susceptible to incurring an injury due to medication errors.

Many medication errors can be prevented by health care professionals adhering to the strict guidelines for ordering and prescribing medications to patients. In addition, the well-being of patients must supersede any desire to take shortcuts or increase profits.

Sufficient background information must be available for medical professionals to help them properly evaluate a patient’s existing allergic sensitivities and other factors that can affect whether or not a particular medicine should be prescribed. Proper levels of medical staffing and sufficient investment in medical technology can help prevent some of these potential errors.

Medication Errors: Contributing Factors

Various factors can contribute to the frequency of medication errors made by doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. These include:

• The requirement for a complex prescription drug regimen
• Illegible handwritten prescriptions
• Drug names that appear identical or sound very similar
• Drugs that have similar packaging designs
• Drug characteristics that are virtually the same, including strength, type of dosage, and required dosing intervals
• Lack of information regarding a patient’s drug prescription and/or adverse drug response and interaction history
• Failure of medical professionals to follow correct procedures