The 20 Most Frequently Asked Questions from www.kennedyattorney.com

1. What is pharmacy malpractice?
   Simply put, pharmacy malpractice occurs when a pharmacist breaches his duty of care to the patient’s safety and well-being by not doing something another reasonably competent pharmacist would do. Common acts of malpractice include:

• giving a person someone else’s prescription;
• improper labeling;
• failing to counsel the patient about side effects or use;
• failing to call the doctor’s office because they had a problem reading the prescription;
• using a stronger dose than stated in the script; and
• filling a prescription even though there is a risk of drug interaction or drug allergy issues (such as when a medicine is not to be used by certain people because of their condition or other medications would cause harm when they take it with the new prescription).

One example of this last act of pharmacy malpractice is when a patient is known to have seizures and is prescribed Wellbutrin, an anti-depressant that will cause seizures in those people, or when a medicine like Celebrex is prescribed for a patient who is allergic to aspirin.

2. What are the benefits of filing a pharmacy claim?
The benefits of filing a pharmacy claim are many.

• The doctor and hospital bills incurred by you due to the errors made by the pharmacy will be paid for, as well as any necessary rehabilitation expenses.
• You will also be compensated for any missed time at work.
• You may recover for pain and suffering.
• You may recover for loss of services, both as a caretaker of your family and marital services, as well.
• There are also punitive damages that can be assessed against the pharmacy as well as the individual pharmacist, and loss of life can also be compensated.

One of the hidden benefits of a pharmacy claim is that you help prevent the same problem from occurring to other people. Pharmacies don’t take complaints seriously unless they are hit in the pocket book. Making them pay for prescription mistakes encourages them to hire more competent pharmacists and take additional steps to avoid pharmacy errors in the future.

3. How common are pharmacy mistakes?
Pharmacy mistakes are shockingly common and they grow increasingly more common as the number of pharmacists decreases and the number of prescriptions increases. It is estimated that 7,000 people are killed each year due to medication errors, people being given the wrong medication, mislabeling and
other types of pharmacy malpractice.

4. How do I select a lawyer to handle a prescription lawsuit?
Make sure the lawyer you choose is an attorney who has substantial experience in the area of pharmacy malpractice and drug or prescription errors. Don’t hire a family attorney or a car accident injury attorney for this type of case. Pharmacy malpractice is a rather complicated area of the law, and your best option is an attorney who specializes in this area because they know the medical issues and the specific laws that apply to pharmacies.

• Another important factor to consider if you need a pharmacy error lawyer is to hire a board certified lawyer. This is another distinction that can make a big difference in the amount of experience a lawyer has in a certain area of law. Chapter 10 highlights the importance of hiring a board certified attorney.
• At Kennedy Hodges, our two principal attorneys are both board certified in personal injury law. At least one of them works on every pharmacy error case the firm handles.

5. How can a pharmacy attorney help me?
A good pharmacy attorney knows the four criteria for establishing a claim:

• Duty
• Breach of Duty
• Causation
• Damages.

A pharmacy attorney knows how to prove the pharmacist had a duty to you to keep you safe with the prescriptions they fill, including patient counseling, doctor callbacks, proper labeling, and even refusing a prescription if they believe it would be harmful to you. This also includes cross-checking all of your current medicines, and all of your conditions. A pharmacy attorney knows the law and knows how to prove the four criteria and get you compensation if you’ve been harmed by a pharmacy mistake. Perhaps most importantly, pharmacies tend not to take patients complaints seriously unless patients have legal representation by a qualified pharmacy attorney.

6. What are the most common pharmacy errors that result in injury?
The most common errors are:

• mislabeling drugs with improper directions for their use;
• not counseling patients about side effects;
• not performing DUR- Drug Utilization Review- cross checking for side effects;
• contraindications and other alerts that pop up in the pharmacy computer system;
• transcription errors, where a decimal point is put in the wrong place or is omitted in the dosage instructions;
• giving a patient someone else’s medication in their bottle; and
• putting the wrong drug in the bottle--switching bottles of two medications with different directions for use for one patient, or putting Risperdal in a Ritalin bottle, for example.

These are just a few ways that pharmacy error or medication errors can occur. If you or a loved one have been the victim of a pharmacy error, contact our board certified attorneys to discuss your case
free of charge.

7. How much are pharmacy lawsuits worth?
The amount your lawsuit is worth will depend on many factors, including the degree of damage suffered by you or your loved one due to the error, the costs incurred at the hospital or in a rehabilitation facility, the amount of wages you lost, and the amount set by the judge and or a jury as reasonable for your services around your home. In addition to these economic damages, you are also entitled to non-economic damages for things such as pain and suffering and mental anguish. To get a better idea, you should talk to an experienced, competent pharmacy error attorney.

8. How do I prove that my child was harmed by pharmacist malpractice?
Save all bottles of all medications dispensed by the pharmacy when your child became ill. Make sure you take your child to the emergency room for treatment (and bring the medications with you). Drug interactions, improper dosages, and allergic reactions can become life-threatening quickly. The records from the emergency room visit, and the medication bottles you got at the pharmacy, are important pieces of evidence in your case.

9. What’s the difference between a pharmacy technician and a pharmacist?
A pharmacist goes to college and pharmacy school for as many as eight years, learning about drugs, chemicals, the human body, and other important things, such as drug interactions and contraindications. They must apply for a license as a pharmacist and take an exam, which must be passed with a certain score.

A pharmacy technician goes to school for 12 to 18 months and is taught medical terminology, basic anatomy and physiology, how to read and transcribe a prescription, how to use computer systems in place to help prevent errors, and how to count out pills and label the bottles. They don’t fully understand all the ins and outs of medication, or the effects on the body. They may not necessarily know or understand how to check for contraindications between drugs and herbal supplements and even vitamins,

10. What should I do if my child started vomiting due to a prescription error?
Immediately take the child, along with any and all drugs administered to the child that day, to the nearest emergency room. Due to the speed with which some drugs are metabolized by the body, save a sample of the vomit if possible, in a clean container and take it with you. DO NOT give the child any other medicines, and do not try to make the child stop vomiting until he or she is seen by the doctor. Vomiting could save your child’s life by getting the bad medicine out of their system. Save all your medication bottles, and the medications inside them. These will be very important to your claim against the pharmacy, because they are evidence.

11. Can a medication error lawyer help me if I don’t have the bottle with the medicine?
Yes. As long as the statute of limitations has not run out, a good medication error attorney can help you prove your claim with hospital or rehabilitation records, as well as any witness statements, such as from family members who were present when you became ill from the wrong medication.

12. Can the pharmacy blame me in court for a medicine error?
No. If the error was due to their negligence, they cannot. Their attorney may try to spin the incident so that it appears to be your fault, but your pharmacy malpractice attorney can prove otherwise, as long as you have evidence like medical records and the medications that were misfiled.

If the pharmacy gave you the wrong medication, did not check for interactions and other medical conditions, did not counsel you about the use of your medicine, and you were injured as a result of their negligence, your lawyer should be able to make a claim. The pharmacist has a duty to keep you safe by doing every reasonable thing to ensure your medicine is safe for you.

13. How often are medication errors caused by illegible hand writing or similar drug names?]
This is alarmingly common and it happens every day. Illegible handwriting by doctors is a problem, but it does not absolve the pharmacy of guilt. The pharmacist is supposed to call the doctor when this happens to be sure the script they fill is correct.

• Similar drug names can be confusing sometimes for everyone, but prescriptions are supposed to be double-checked to make certain you get the correct medicine at the correct dose.

14, CVS made a pharmacy error and I had to be hospitalized. What can be done?
Keep all your medications and medication bottles. When you get out of the hospital, call an experienced pharmacy malpractice attorney to help you. You can also make a complaint to your state’s Board of Pharmacy.

You can sue the pharmacy and make them compensate you for:

• economic losses, including lost wages,
• your medical bills incurred as result of pharmacy malpractice,
• pain and suffering and other non-economic damages.

If you have questions, you can contact our office 24/7 to start a free case review.

15. Can a prescription drug error at Walgreens pharmacy be caused by stressful work environments for the pharmacists and technicians?

Not entirely. The environment pharmacists and technicians work in is stressful. The pharmacist often works 12-14 hours a day, with no real break, no meal break, and he or she is often supervising four technicians who don’t have the educational background or expertise of a pharmacist. Techs work 12 hour days and longer, and are paid much less, sometimes barely above minimum wage.

Busy and stressful environments combined with fatigue contribute significantly to the problem. Humans make more errors when they are tired and hungry, but being tired and hungry does not relieve or excuse them from their duty to the patient.

16. Do medication errors at a pharmacies like CVS, Target or Walgreens occur more often than grocery store pharmacies like Safeway, Albertsons or Costco?
No. In almost all retail pharmacies, pharmacists are overworked, and they are supervising less educated pharmacy technicians who receive much lower pay. This is a cost-saving measure designed to control costs and increase profits for these giant corporations.

17. How long do I have to file a prescription error lawsuit?
The laws vary from state to state.

• In Texas, you have two years from the date you would have reasonably known you were injured by the pharmacy’s medication error. In many cases, this is the date the prescription was filled. If the injured patient is a child, they typically will have until the age of 20 to file suit.

Other states have slightly different statutes of limitation for pharmacy malpractice claims. If you have questions about the laws in your state, you can contact our office 24/7 to have an attorney review the particular facts of your case.

18. My mother was given the wrong medication by Walgreens and suffered horrible symptoms. How do I prove that her symptoms are linked to the pharmacy drug error?
Save all bottles and medications given to your mother if you can. Hospital and rehabilitation facility records are important, too. Keep all these as evidence for your claim.

You should contact a board certified pharmacy error lawyer immediately to start investigating your case as early as possible. You can send us a confidential contact form or call our office 24/7 to discuss your case today.

19. Can a prescription error lawyer help me if I didn’t double check to make sure I had the right medicine in the bottle at the pharmacy before taking the pills?
Yes! You are not a pharmacist. You cannot be expected to know what every generic and every name brand drug looks like. You are the patient, and the pharmacist has a duty to you to be sure that his or her technicians put the right pills in the right bottle, and that the pharmacist double checked the work of his or her subordinates.

20. How can I tell a good prescription error attorney from a bad one?
The best option when choosing a pharmacy error attorney is to search for a board certified lawyer. Board certified means that a lawyer has gone through an extensive process to meet certain qualifications. It is a voluntary designation program for lawyers and legal assistants and it is a distinguishing factor when you are researching pharmacy error attorneys.

The requirements to achieve Board Certification in the state of Texas include:

• Being licensed to practice law for at least five years
• Devoting a specific percent of their law practice to personal injury law for at least three years.
• Attending continuing education seminars that keep them updated in their legal training
• Being evaluated by fellow lawyers and judges
• Passing a 6-hour written examination
• Applying for recertification every five years.

Galvin Kennedy is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. This process requires attorneys to recertify every five years.