Prescription Errors

Most of us in the United States view prescription pills as fairly harmless. We trust our doctors to know what medications are safe for our families, and believe that they will prescribe the correct dosages. So long as they ask if we are allergic to any medications, we believe that we will receive a medication that will help us. However, prescription pills can have negative effects if they are prescribed incorrectly. Medical errors leading to medical malpractice happen much more often than they should in this country. Shockingly, a significant portion of these errors occur when a drug is prescribed, transcribed at the pharmacy, filled at the pharmacy, or when drugs are given at a hospital.

Your Child’s Doctor

Your child’s general doctor might prescribe medication during a regular check up. To avoid errors, a doctor should thoroughly question you and your child about:

• Their illness or condition.
• The other medication that your child is currently taking.
• If your child has any allergies.
• Your child’s past experience with similar drugs.

Basically, a doctor should get a full picture of your child’s medical history and their current condition before prescribing any medication. In addition, your child’s doctor has to advise you of the potential risks and side effects associated with this drug.

If a doctor prescribes the wrong medication, the wrong dosage, or if he or she fails to tell you about warnings associated with the drug, subsequent injury or illness will be the responsibility of the doctor, not the drug manufacturing company.

A Hospital

Sometimes, your child might receive medication at a hospital instead of from your regular doctor. Doctors and nurses in a hospital might make the same mistakes that your child’s general physician can make. If the wrong amount of medication or the wrong medication is given to a patient, and it causes an injury or illness, the hospital can be sued for medical malpractice. Oftentimes, errors occur in hospitals due to misreading handwriting that explains dosages, or failing to get a full picture of the patient’s medical history.

Your Pharmacist

Doctors and nurses are not the only people who can be sued for medical malpractice. This charge can be brought against a pharmacist who accidentally gave a patient the wrong dosage or medication, didn’t read a doctor’s instructions correctly, didn’t give the patient the right directions for use, or for other reasons.

If you feel that your child has been the victim of medical malpractice due to prescription pill errors, you can file a medical malpractice lawsuit. You might be able to recover damages for your child’s past medical expenses, future medical expenses, and long term effects of the medication issues you faced.

If you are interested in learning if you have a case and filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, you should consider contacting a personal injury lawyer in your area.