Wrong Medication

One of the most common types of medical errors is administering the wrong medication – which can directly cause severe injury, illness, and death. This is one of the most carefully tracked medical errors – and occurs with surprising frequency in hospitals, in at-home care, in nursing homes, and in pharmacies. The attorneys at our firm are skilled in helping clients receive compensation for injuries sustained from this type of medical malpractice.

In one recent year, more than 100,000 people received the wrong medication from doctors and nurse – and more than 7,000 died.

The error may entail:

– providing the wrong medication entirely
– prescribing the wrong dosage
– giving a medication to someone with a known allergy to the drug
– prescribing a medication that interacts with another drug
– providing a drug that can conflict with a patient’s other health problems (such as kidney, liver, or heart disease)

A medication error may also cause symptoms or medical problems that can go untreated if improper medication isn’t recognized as the cause.

Children and infants are particularly vulnerable to harm from medication errors. They have more immature immune systems, lower chemical tolerance, and at younger ages and body weights, they may be more affected by overdoses. By some estimates, one in eighteen prescriptions written for children specifies the wrong dosage or medication.

When administering medications, nurses typically follow a standard of care known as the Five Rs:

– Right medication
– Right patient
– Right dose
– Right route
– Right time

A nurse that injures a patient by failing to follow this well-established protocol can be held liable.