Medication Errors
At some time in our lives, we all have to go see a doctor, either for ourselves or a member of our family. Many times, the doctor will write a prescription, which may only be filled at a pharmacy.
Many times these prescriptions are difficult to read. The pharmacist works hard to make sure you get the right medicine prescribed by your doctor. But, medication errors occur due to poor handwriting and confusion between drugs with similar names. Your doctor may have used the wrong abbreviations and miscommunications to your pharmacist or pharmacy. It's your life and health at risk, just because of miscommunication or dosage of prescribed medication.
Contact our Medication Error Medical Malpractice Attorneys Brooklyn, if your doctor prescribed you the wrong medicine or medicine that cause harmful effects to you or a loved one.
Some Common Types Of Medication Errors:
- Incomplete Patient Information
- Unavailable Drug Information (such as lack of up-to-date warnings)
- Miscommunication of Drug Orders
- Poor Handwriting
- Confusion Between Drugs With Similar Names
- Misuse of Zeroes and Decimal Points
- Inappropriate Abbreviations
- Lack of Appropriate Labeling
Example Of Medication Errors:
A physician ordered a 260-milligram preparation of Taxol for a patient, but the pharmacist prepared 260 milligrams of Taxotere instead. Both are chemotherapy drugs used for different types of cancer and with different recommended doses. The patient died several days later, though the death couldn't be linked to the error because the patient was already severely ill.
An older patient with rheumatoid arthritis died after receiving an overdose of methotrexate--a 10-milligram daily dose of the drug rather than the intended 10-milligram weekly dose. Some dosing mix-ups have occurred because daily dosing of methotrexate is typically used to treat people with cancer, while low weekly doses of the drug have been prescribed for other conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease.
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