Reputable Fort Worth Pharmaceutical Negligence Attorneys

How do medication errors happen?

Although many pharmacy and prescribing tasks are automated, they still require humans to input information and dispense medication. People make mistakes, and in the medical field, these mistakes can be fatal. Common reasons these errors occur include:

Pharmacy distractions. With all the activity in a pharmacy, the staff is subject to distractions and interruptions while working, which can increase the risk of error while performing their jobs. This can cause mistakes while compounding, counting, or dispensing pills and medications.

Cross-contamination. When a pharmacy fails to practice proper safety and hygiene, medication can become contaminated with germs or even cross-contaminated with other medications. In some cases, toxins can also contaminate medications in drug manufacturing facilities.

Failure to educate. For many reasons – whether they’re ill, running late, or don’t speak the language – patients often don’t discuss drug interactions and side effects with their pharmacists. Medical professionals have a duty to patients to inform them of possible adverse drug effects, proper dosage instructions, and what to do in case of a bad reaction.

Dispensing the incorrect drug. Most pharmacies fill hundreds, or even thousands, of prescriptions a day. One moment of inattention can cause a devastating mistake, like accidentally swapping the prescriptions of two different patients. Drugs with similar looking or sounding names can be easily mixed up as well.

Mistakes in prescription entry. Errors in prescription intake and entry happen when a person makes a mistake transcribing a prescription into a system. Reasons can include illegible handwriting, typing errors, or mistakes with spelling and abbreviations. The NCCMERP provides a list of dangerous medication-related abbreviations.

Can pharmaceutical negligence cause serious injuries?

Yes, it can. Medication errors, depending on the type and the patient’s individual circumstances, can cause devastating consequences, including death. Victims of pharmaceutical negligence may suffer extended hospital stays, increased complications, long recovery time, and temporary or permanent disability. Serious adverse reactions include organ failure, loss of oxygen, seizures, cardiac arrest, birth injuries, coma, chemical-like burns or death.

It is always a tragedy when someone experiences a devastating injury. When that injury is caused by another’s negligence, however, it is simply unacceptable. At Slack Davis Sanger, our goal is holding careless and negligent medical professionals accountable when they cause you or a loved one harm.