No federal regulation exists to make pharmacies report the number of errors that occur every year. This means that error estimates are just that - estimates. The latest numbers reported indicate that 1.3 million people are injured in the United States every year because of medication errors. Since nobody is making the pharmacies speak up, it is up to consumers to take action and make these corporations pay attention.
The four criteria for establishing a pharmacy malpractice claim are:
Pharmacists have a duty to the patients they serve to be sure the prescriptions they fill are safe for those patients. For example, a pharmacy malpractice case might be based on any of the following actions or failure to act:
If one of these types of pharmacy negligence injured you or a loved one, yes, the pharmacist will probably feel horrible. Maybe you’ve been going there for years and you think you’ll get them in trouble if you speak up. Maybe you think your claim is worthless because you weren’t severely harmed in the long run. For whatever reason, if you were injured by a pharmacy error, you are helping others
when you speak up.
You are helping the pharmacist do his job better, and helping the technicians do their jobs better. You are helping other patients, because the pharmacy will be more careful in the future. You are also helping to force the greedy corporations who think prescriptions are nothing but a mechanical assembly line to see that real people and their health are involved.
The corporations - Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid and all the other big chain pharmacies - don’t care about anything but profit. They don’t care about the health and safety of their consumers - you and me. They don’t care about the health, safety or well-being of their employees - the pharmacists and pharmacy techs, or the clerks who are busy doing the other things that keep a drug store running smoothly. Filing claims for just compensation against these dangerous pill pits helps everyone.
If 7,000 people are killed every year by medication errors and other pharmacy negligence, imagine how many survive, but who are injured every year. You read the estimate already: 1.3 million people are injured annually in the United States because of medication errors. Imagine the errors that could have been prevented if more people spoke up when they were injured or lost a loved one because of pharmacy medication errors.
The victims of this malpractice are compensated for both economic and non-economic losses incurred due to the pharmacy’s negligence. The employees who work in these awful conditions, which we described in Chapter 2, will eventually have better working conditions and medication errors can be greatly reduced. As an attorney representing victims of pharmacy malpractice, I pay close attention every time the mainstream media reports on this subject. At the end of every article, I always notice the same thing: a list of hundreds of people reporting the prescription error nightmares they’ve undergone. Surprisingly, few of them reported taking any action. I summarize many of these stories on my
website: www.kennedyattorney.com
Most consumers don’t take action when they merely suffer a few days of unnecessary vomiting, nausea, headaches, diarrhea, cramping, rashes and other painful but temporary ailments.
These errors need to be reported. Corporations pay settlements to the few who do speak up as a cost of doing business. What if we all spoke up when these things happened? Imagine how the chain pharmacies would respond if they had to pay out on all claims because consumers started making claims for medication mistakes that harm or kill people. The lawsuits would no longer be considered just a cost of doing business. They would be the only reason these companies changed their operating procedures to make the work environments safe for employees and they would be the only reason things changed for the better to protect the consumers who use their services. Consumers should speak up!
We aren’t here solely to beat up on pharmacists and pharmacy techs. We aren’t here to beat up on corporations when our clients are injured by medication errors. The truth is that medication errors can occur anywhere in the health care system, from the time the doctor writes the script to when it is filled at the pharmacy. The doctor, a nurse, a medical assistant, or a physician’s assistant could have made the error that caused harm or caused death. There are many places where communication can and does break down, causing errors like this. Our attorneys know this, and they know how to fight for you, the client. You don’t have to give up your rights because you don’t know where the error occurred. Talk to an experienced attorney who understands how and when medication errors happen. Know your rights. You may think your claim is against the pharmacy alone, but it could be against a hospital or other institution instead. If you are injured by improper dosing or other medication errors, talk to an attorney. They know how to prove where the error occurred, and they know how to get you what you deserve if you’ve been the victim of drug error.
Pharmacy errors can cause death or significant health concerns. If you think that you have been harmed due to a
Pharmacy negligence results in 1.5 million injuries to people in the US each year. These errors happen in the hospital
Pharmacists are required by law and by definition of their duties to provide specific care to their customers and patients
