Any medication, even the most mundane, can affect the body in unpredictable ways. That’s why medical professionals need to be very cautious when prescribing, dispensing and administering medications. A medication error, such as giving someone the wrong medication or the wrong dose, can lead to serious injuries due to interactions and side effects.
If you or a loved one was given the wrong medication, you shouldn’t have to deal with the injury alone. Each Peru medication error lawyer at Schweickert Ganassin Krzak Rundio, LLP has extensive experience handling cases involving medication errors. We’re familiar with all of the circumstances surrounding these cases, and we know how to prove that a medical professional’s mistake led to your injury.
- Look-Alike-Sound-Alike (LASA): These are medications with similar appearances and, more importantly, similar names. Some examples include guanfacine (a drug used to treat ADHD and hypertension) versus guaifenesin (an expectorant) and Celebrex (a drug used to treat arthritis) versus Celexa (an antidepressant).
- Hospital Discharge: Hospitals are supposed to provide detailed discharge instructions to patients and to their primary care providers (PCP) when a patient transitions home. Sometimes, these instructions are vague or inaccurate; in other cases, they are not provided to the patient or the patient’s doctor. This can lead to errors in giving medications that were prescribed by the hospital.
- Medication Interactions: When patients are on multiple medications, their medical providers are responsible for understanding and avoiding any undesirable interactions. Medication interactions are particularly dangerous for elderly patients who may be on many medications at once. Even a single error can have catastrophic consequences.
- Distraction and Overwork: It’s true in most fields of work that people who are overworked are more likely to make mistakes. In hectic environments such as hospital emergency rooms, doctors and nurses who are tending to too many patients may accidentally give one an incorrect medication. In these cases, fault may lie with the hospital for failing to adequately staff the department.
- Pharmacy Errors: Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians need to transcribe medication orders several times before the prescription is actually filled. A transcription error at any stage can lead to the patient receiving the wrong medication or the wrong dose.
- Failure to Check: Because of the risk of transcription errors, nurses who administer medications are supposed to check the pharmacy label against the doctor’s order to ensure that they are actually giving the correct dosage of the correct medication. Failing to conduct this critical check can lead to serious injuries.
Medication errors can lead to complex legal cases in which multiple medical professionals are involved, and each tries to blame the others for the error. If you’re facing a long, drawn-out case such as this, you absolutely need an experienced and dedicated attorney on your side. With over 120 years of combined experience, our attorneys consistently obtain big results for victims of medical malpractice. We’ll give your case personal attention every step of the way. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you won’t have to pay us a cent until and unless we recover.
If you or a loved one has been hurt due to a medication error, don’t wait. Contact us today for your free initial consultation.
