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Pharmacist Errors & Medication Mistakes
While there is almost always a warning label and a list of potential side effects, you trust that your doctors and pharmacists wouldn’t hand over medications that could cause you harm. Unfortunately, pharmacist errors can result in the wrong type or amount of medication, leading to serious side effects and long-term consequences.
Whether you are prescribed an antibiotic, an SSRI for depression, or oral chemotherapy to fight cancer, you assume what you’re handed at the pharmacy is what you should take. When professional pharmacists or their staff do something wrong, you are unlikely to catch the mistake.
If you suffered a serious side effect or drug interaction because of a pharmacist error, call the Ohio medical malpractice lawyers of Kisling, Nestico & Redick right away at 1-800-HURT-NOW for a free, no-risk consutlation.
Injuries Related to Pharmacist Errors
It can be easy to see prescription medications as harmless. After all, most of your interactions with medications include your taking them and then feeling better.
Prescription medications are highly technical and regulated for a reason. They have extreme effects on the body. Some outcomes are good, like an antibiotic killing an infection. Other consequences are harmful, like pain relievers leading to liver damage.
Medication errors have been known to lead to:
- Organ damage and failure
- Vision loss
- Seizures
- Heart attack
- Brain damage
- Birth defects
- Overdoses
- Death
Types of Pharmacist Errors
There are several dispensing errors that have the potential to harm patients, including:
Providing the incorrect medication
A significant number of patient injuries result from being given the wrong medication by a pharmacist. The risk of this mistake is even higher for patients prescribed a medication that may look and sound like another drug, such as Flonase and Flomax.
Patients who receive incorrect drugs may not only develop serious side effects from unnecessary medications but their current conditions are left untreated and can worsen.
Mislabeling medication
Many prescription drugs require certain labels, such as those that warn of drowsiness or other dangerous side effects. Patients who receive their medications without the proper warnings and labels may be unaware of potential side effects.
Without this knowledge, they could drive or operate machinery when they shouldn’t or not notice the signs of a serious medical issue.
Mixing a medication incorrectly
Some medications are not pre-formed pills or tablets. Pharmacists often have to mix medications, such as a concentrated liquid or powder in a solution. Mixing incorrect components or using the wrong amount of solution means a patient receives the incorrect medication or dosage, both of which can lead to harmful results.
Providing the wrong dosage
Physicians prescribe a type and amount of medication to be taken at predefined intervals. Pharmacists can incorrectly provide patients with too low or too high of a dosage of that medication, which leads to over- or under-treating conditions.
Over-treating conditions can cause dangerous side effects. If the drug is addictive, a high dose puts the patient at risk of abuse. Under-treating the problems allows patients to get unexpectedly worse, misleading physicians as to why the medication isn’t working.
Failing to check for drug interactions
Dangerous drug interactions lead to many patient injuries and deaths. Pharmacists are the last line of defense for patients taking multiple drugs.
While computer programs may be set to catch common interactions, it is up to experienced pharmacists to review patient records, ask about current medications, and determine whether two or more prescribed medications could lead to a negative interaction or contradiction.
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