Medication errors can lead to all kinds of harm to your health. You place a lot of trust in your pharmacist, and you will probably be shocked to find out how often pharmacy and medication errors can impact people’s overall health. There are many reasons why medication errors take place and some of them come down to human error and chance.
If you have been harmed due to a medication error, you might be unsure what you can do to take care of yourself after the accident. There are various reasons that this type of mistake can happen, and your lawyer will investigate the reasons that the medication error took place. The reasons for the error can make a big difference in the overall representation of your case.
Medication errors are not supposed to take place. There are many checks and balances that are put in place to make sure that your medication is dispensed correctly and with the right dosage and instructions. You will probably never have an issue with your medications, but the one time that you do could be deadly.
Medication errors happen for many reasons, and you will find that these are the most common ones:
If the pharmacy is very chaotic and your prescription is filled at the end of the day, you might end up being the victim of a pharmacy error. Pharmacists are supposed to check your chart and look for other medications that you are taking as well as making sure that you can have the medication when you are taking other medications. These kinds of details can cause errors that could lead to significant harm or even death.
Pharmacies are not supposed to have only one pharmacist on staff for this reason, but sometimes busy hours plus sick employees can lead to one pharmacist overseeing all the prescriptions that are filled during the day. This can lead to fatigue and possible errors.
Medications tend to look like one another. There are supposed to be checks and balances in place to prevent the pharmacy staff from thinking that your medications are another medication that looks the same. Many pills are white and are only defined by the markings that are printed on them.
Your pharmacist is supposed to check all the markings on the pills they are dispensing to make sure that they are not giving you the wrong medications, but you can find that your pharmacist could confuse your medication for another one that looks very similar.
Pharmacists need to provide counsel for your questions and concerns before they give you medication. If you are not offered counsel, this can lead to confusion that could cause medication errors. Your pharmacist needs to make themselves available to answer questions and tell you about side effects before you take the medication home with you.
Lack of counsel can make it tough to be sure that you are taking your medications at the right dose and in the right combination with other medications. You should never leave the pharmacy without getting counsel for your medication.
If your pharmacy has staff that is new or not secure in their jobs, you might end up being the victim of a pharmacy error. Pharmacists are supposed to double-check the medications that you have been prescribed and dispensed, but you will find that sometimes distractions caused by trying to train new staff can lead to errors.
It can be hard to know that inexperienced staff might be involved in your prescription, but if you are not sure that what you have been given is right, you should ask questions. There are many things that happen when prescriptions are being filled that could have been avoided and you might have to be the person that notices this error and asks if there is an issue with your medications. This is not your job and if the error is not noticed, you could be harmed by this mistake.
If medications have been pulled for a recall, these medications should be pulled off the shelf. You should not worry about being given medications that you should not be taking due to a recall but sometimes mistakes happen that can lead to this outcome. There is plenty of information out there about recalls and if you want to check on the current medication recalls, you should check on this yourself.
You should be able to count on your pharmacist to know about the medications that should be taken off the shelves due to recalls, but you might have to trust your own research. This is one of the difficulties that can lead to pharmacy errors that can cause sickness or even death.
If you have been harmed by a pharmacy error, you might want to know what comes next. You will need to get a lawyer that is skilled in this kind of case and can represent you with authority. There are many necessary skills that need to be used to research and represent this kind of case. You will want to work with a skilled medication and pharmacy error lawyer.
Your lawyer will take care of your case and the investigation that needs to be done to figure out who is responsible for your accident. Sometimes there are more people involved than the pharmacist and your case might even have to go to trial rather than to be reviewed for a settlement. This is where having a skilled lawyer on your side can make all the difference between having a good outcome for your case and having a less-than-ideal outcome.
Contact us today for your free consultation so that your case can be represented by a skilled lawyer who will get you the compensation that you deserve.
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
