Philadelphia Pharmaceutical/Medication Error Attorneys
Across the United States and the rest of the world, countless people depend on a variety of medications and pharmaceuticals to help them deal with serious and even life-threatening conditions. General members of the public are not experts on the intricacies of these important drugs, and so they rely on doctors, nurses and pharmacists to ensure they get the correct medications in the appropriate amounts.
Unfortunately, as medical error attorneys know all too well, medication-related mistakes are not rare. According to an Institute of Medicine report, an estimated 7,000 people die annually as a direct result of medication error, and this statistic does not take into account the many others who have been physically injured or otherwise harmed. Due to the frequency of medication and pharmaceutical error, it is one of the most common types of medical malpractice cases.
What is Pharmaceutical Error?
A number of actions of hospital staff and healthcare professionals can fall under the broad category of pharmaceutical error. A medication error attorney can help you understand whether you were the victim of this type of mistake, but here are some examples:
- Prescribing, dispensing or administering too much or too little of a medication - To benefit the patient, drugs must be prescribed in the right amounts. Doctors, pharmacists and nurses can all make potentially costly dosing errors.
- Prescribing, dispensing or administering the wrong medication - This often occurs in the hospital setting and puts both the patient who has not received his medication and the one who received the wrong type at risk.
- Failing to recognize or investigate possible drug interactions - Consideration of drug interactions is necessary before prescribing any medication.
- Prescribing or administering drugs to which a patient is allergic - This refers to situations in which the healthcare staff considers a known allergy.
What Causes Pharmaceutical Error? What Can be Done?
The question of what causes pharmaceutical error is not an easy one to answer. Various healthcare professionals are involved in prescribing, distributing and administering drugs to patients, and they make mistakes far too often. Just a few examples of actions that could lead to pharmaceutical error include the following:
- A hospital staff member failing to make note of allergies on a patient’s chart
- A pharmacist incorrectly reading the name of a drug prescribed by a physician
- A nurse giving a patient medication intended for someone in another bed or room
- A nurse measuring the wrong amount of a medication for a patient
Pharmaceutical error can lead to overdoses, adverse reactions and an individual failing to receive the medication they need to treat a heart condition, diabetes, a serious infection or other illness that could threaten his or her well-being or life if left untreated. If you are a Pennsylvania resident who has suffered damages because of pharmaceutical error, contact the Philadelphia pharmaceutical/medication error attorneys at Cherry Fieger and Marciano, LLP to arrange a consultation.
