If you’re given the wrong medication or the wrong dose, your health and well-being are put in jeopardy. You should be able to depend on your healthcare providers to provide you with medication. Pharmacy negligence harms people who need proper medication to maintain their health.
Inattentive or negligent medical care providers should be held accountable for their mistakes. Getting in touch with a Baltimore medication & pharmacy errors lawyer will ensure a legal professional will defend your rights and help you with your claim.
We’ll make sure that you can recover damages from what you’ve gone through. The law firm of Belsky & Horowitz, LLC has successfully handled prescription error lawsuits and pharmacist negligence claims on behalf of clients throughout Baltimore.
How Can Medical Professionals Mishandle Drugs?
Hospitals, emergency rooms, and doctors’ offices can be busy, high-stress environments. According to the Maryland Hospital Patient Safety Program Annual Report, Maryland hospitals had 937 adverse events, of which 808 led to serious injury or death.
Some of these events include medication errors from miscommunication, mixing up drugs because they have similar names, illegible handwriting on medical records, and rushing to attend to everyone’s needs, but not being as focused or attentive as they should be.
Some examples of medication and pharmacy errors include:
- Misreading Prescriptions: There can be instances where prescriptions are misread, leading to the patient taking the wrong medication.
- Pharmacy Errors: Pharmacists can give the wrong medication to a patient because they mixed up prescriptions.
- Administering the Wrong Dose: Patients may be given the right drug, but the dosage could be too little or too much. Overdosing is a dangerous possibility if patients are given the wrong dose.
- Contraindications: This is a situation where a patient can’t have a drug, procedure, or surgery because it could cause them harm. If doctors don’t know that the patient is incompatible with something, they may put the patient in danger.
- Failing to Provide Instructions and Warnings: When patients are going to start taking a new drug, their doctor should explain how to use the drug safely. They should also inform their patient if there are any chances of side effects or other health warnings that the patient needs to know before taking the drug.
- Physician Errors: In the event of a misdiagnosis or mistaking symptoms, doctors may prescribe the wrong medication.
- Nursing Errors: Hospitals without strong communication and record keeping could cause situations where nurses administer too much or too little of a drug, or don’t get the drug to their patient at all.
When errors like these occur, patients often face adverse drug events, more complicated recoveries, and significant physical and financial stress.
Belsky & Horowitz, LLC will investigate when and how the mistake happened, whether it violated hospital protocols, and if it rises to the level of medical malpractice.
What Are the Dangers of Medication Errors?
Drugs affect people depending on their size, medical history, and how they take the medicine. Medical care providers should know how a drug will interact with someone and instruct them on how to take the medication safely. Three main ways a negative drug interaction can harm a patient are:
- Drug-Drug Interactions: There’s a potential for drugs to affect the potency or effectiveness if there is more than one in a person’s system.
- Drug-Food Interactions: Some drugs need to be taken with food so the body can absorb them. But there are dangers to taking drugs and then drinking alcohol. It could make someone tired and have slower reaction times. If someone is operating a motor vehicle and has a drug interaction, it may prevent them from being able to drive safely.
- Drug-Condition Interactions: A patient may already have a condition that makes a drug harmful to them. Doctors need to keep these in mind when they’re prescribing new medication.
Medication errors can do more than make someone tired. A serious error could cause major problems, like:
- Heart Attack
- Stroke
- Internal Bleeding
- Organ Damage
- Nerve Damage
- Wrongful Death
In many cases, patients require additional medication or treatment to correct the error, which may result in permanent consequences affecting memory, mobility, or quality of life.
If you’ve lost a loved one to a prescription or pharmacy error, our attorneys are also prepared to pursue justice through a wrongful death claim.
Systemic Causes of Medication Errors
Medication errors don’t happen in a vacuum. While some people think of them as isolated slip-ups, many are actually the result of broader system failures in healthcare and pharmacy settings. Understanding these causes helps in proving negligence and holding providers accountable.
Look-Alike / Sound-Alike Drugs (LASA)
Many drugs on the market have names or packaging that closely resemble one another. For example, Zyrtec and Zantac or Celebrex and Celexa. In a busy environment, even a small mix-up can have devastating effects.
Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Technology Errors
Digital systems are meant to reduce mistakes, but they can introduce new ones. A prescription field might auto-populate with the wrong drug, or a drop-down menu could cause a physician to select the wrong dose. If staff don’t catch these glitches, patients pay the price.
Staffing Shortages and Fatigue
Hospitals and chain pharmacies operate with skeleton crews. Overworked pharmacists, nurses, and doctors may be forced to rush through prescriptions or medication administration, which increases the likelihood of an error.
Breakdowns in Communication
Patients often receive care from multiple providers, like ER doctors, specialists, primary care physicians, and pharmacists. When test results or chart notes are not properly communicated, the result can be duplicated medications, dangerous drug interactions, or the wrong prescription.
Corporate Pressure and Quotas
Large pharmacy chains sometimes push pharmacists to meet unrealistic prescription-filling targets. When profits are prioritized over patient safety, critical checks can be skipped, and accuracy suffers.
By uncovering why the error occurred, not just what went wrong, our Baltimore medication & pharmacy errors lawyers build stronger cases. Demonstrating that a mistake was the predictable result of systemic negligence, not a one-off accident, helps juries and insurers understand the seriousness of the harm.
Frequently Asked Questions About Medication and Pharmacy Errors
What is considered a pharmacy error?
Any mistake in dispensing medication, wrong drug, wrong dose, or failing to warn of interactions, may be considered a pharmacy error.
Can both a doctor and a pharmacist be held responsible?
Yes. Liability may fall on multiple parties, including the prescribing physician, the pharmacist, or even a hospital system.
How long do I have to file a claim in Maryland?
The statute of limitations is five years from the date of the injury or three years from the date the injury was discovered, whichever is earlier. If you have been injured, you will want to consult a medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.
What damages can I recover in a medication error lawsuit?
You may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, future care needs, and pain and suffering. Families who lost a loved one may be eligible to file a wrongful death claim for funeral and burial expenses.
Do I need an attorney, or can I handle this on my own?
Medication error claims are complicated and involve battling large healthcare systems and insurers. When you have an experienced lawyer, it can improve your chances of a successful resolution.
Get Help from a Baltimore Medication & Pharmacy Errors Lawyer
Insurance companies may not settle your medication error claim or will try to give you unfair damages that won’t cover the cost of what you’ll need to make a full recovery. Belsky & Horowitz, LLC is prepared to be at your side every step of the way and will take the case to court so we can get you your rightful compensation.
Our various offices are open to Maryland clients. Contact us today to set up a free consultation with one of our skilled Baltimore medication & pharmacy errors lawyers.
