Medication Errors

Prescription drug errors are a common form of personal injury and medical malpractice. In the medical profession, these are called “adverse drug events” because a patient is harmed as a result of a mistake related to medication. The majority of medication errors are preventable, which is what makes many cases we see especially tragic.

Any health care provider who is involved with prescribing, dispensing, and administering medications is potentially at fault for errors. Doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists, and pharmacies all play a critical role in keeping patients safe from harm when it comes to prescriptions.

Types of medication errors include:

• giving the patient the wrong medication
• giving the patient the wrong dose — too much or too little medication
• mislabeling the medication, either by name or dose
• prescribing the patient a medication that the patient was known to be allergic to
• prescribing the patient a medication that interacts negatively with other medications the provider knows the patient is taking

A medical error can have serious or even fatal consequences. Just like personal injuries caused by other kinds of accidents, the impact can be life-changing and bring with it a heavy emotional and financial burden for which the victims or their families deserve compensation.

More information about medication errors can be found below:

• Medication errors by hospitals
• Medication errors by pharmacies
• Medication errors by nursing homes and residential care facilities