Close to half of all Americans take at least one prescription medication each month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prescription medications can help patients manage conditions and improve their health.
Unfortunately, medications can also be dangerous, especially if the wrong drug is prescribed or a patient is provided with the wrong dose of a medication. Sadly, these types of errors happen far too commonly when doctors, hospitals, pharmacists, or other care providers fail to fulfill their obligations to provide professional care.
In many cases, medication errors can cause serious harm to victims -- and those victims should take legal action to hold care providers liable for their losses. The Birmingham medical malpractice attorneys at Singleton Schreiber can help.
We have spent decades representing victims harmed by medical negligence, including medication errors, and we understand how to make a compelling case and maximize your chances of winning your claim.
To find out how our Birmingham injury attorneys can help you to fight for full and fair compensation after you have been damaged by a medication error, give us a call or contact us online today.
Types of Medication Errors
Unfortunately, many things can go wrong with medications that cause serious and lasting harm to patients. Some of the most common types of medication errors include:
- Prescribing or administering the wrong drug
- Prescribing a drug that interacts dangerously with other medications
- Prescribing or administering the wrong dose or strength of a drug
- Prescribing or administering a drug to the wrong patient
- Providing the wrong instructions for drug administration, such as stating a drug should be delivered via IV instead of orally, or delivering a drug via the wrong route
- Prescribing the wrong frequency of treatment or administering a drug at the wrong time
- Not properly adjusting the dose to the patient's weight or age
- Misdocumenting a prescription or transcribing prescription information incorrectly on a patient's chart
- Dispensing the wrong drug or dose
- Labeling medications inaccurately
In these situations, and when other errors are made, the doctor doing the prescribing, the medical staff administering prescriptions, or the pharmacist who is dispensing the pills could all potentially be held legally responsible if their failures are the direct cause of harm.
Consequences of Medication Errors
Medication errors can have dire consequences for the health and well-being of a patient. Some of the different problems that can arise include:
- Delayed treatment if the wrong drug is prescribed
- Allergic reactions
- Dangerous drug interactions
- Serious physical injury
- Accidental overdose
- Death
In many tragic cases, patients are not able to fully recover after they receive the wrong medication. Other victims of medication mistakes may need expensive medical care, sometimes on an ongoing basis, and their ability to work or enjoy their life can be impacted adversely by the error.
When a victim is harmed by a problem with medication, those responsible for the incident should be held responsible for providing full and fair compensation, including payment for both economic loss and non-financial loss. With damage caps declared unconstitutional in Alabama, victims should be able to recover fully for the harm they experienced.
Who Is Responsible For Medication Errors?
It is important to determine who is responsible for a medication error if you want to take legal action against a provider who caused harm. As mentioned above, responsible parties could include:
- The prescribing physician
- The medical staff that administered the drug
- The pharmacist who dispensed the drug
Often, however, it is not just these negligent individuals who are responsible for compensating you for damages. That's because of vicarious liability laws. Vicarious liability laws mandate that hospitals, clinics, or other healthcare facilities are responsible if their staff members are negligent while performing work duties.
This means that if a doctor or nurse at a hospital prescribes or administers the wrong drug or the wrong dose of a medication, the hospital or clinic itself could become responsible for compensating victims. The care provider these facilities employ acts as an agent of the facility, and the provider's negligence is seen as the hospital or clinic's negligence.
Healthcare facilities can also be held responsible based on their own policies if those fall short of best practices. For example, if a hospital doesn't have appropriate and reasonable safeguards in place to ensure that the correct drug is dispensed, then this negligence in failing to set acceptable policies could also lead to liability.
It will be important to identify all potential defendants and to determine the right legal arguments to hold them accountable, as you want the maximum amount of medical malpractice insurance coverage available to pay for your damages.
Finding The Right Birmingham Medication Errors Lawyer
If you are pursuing a claim for medical negligence based on a medication error, you need an experienced attorney to help you through the process because these can be complex and technical claims.
Singleton Schreiber can help you. Our firm has represented hundreds of victims of medical negligence, and we have recovered millions of dollars in compensation when healthcare providers failed to meet the professional standard of care imposed on them.
Our firm is the right place for you to turn during this difficult time because:
- We offer compassionate representation. We are here to answer your questions, and you can talk with your lawyer directly about your case instead of just a case manager.
- We have a strong background in malpractice claims. We understand the technicalities behind a care provider's obligations, and we have a network of experts ready to show how your provider fell short so you can strengthen your case
- Medical malpractice insurers know we fight hard for clients. Our reputation for dedication helps in settlement negotiations because insurers know we aren't going to back down or accept less than you deserve
- We are skilled litigators. While not every malpractice lawyer is ready to go to court, our team has trial experience, and we have won many successful verdicts due to our ability to make compelling claims.
You don't want just any lawyer helping you when you pursue a claim after a care provider hurts you -- especially as you placed your trust in a professional to help. You deserve to be made whole, and we will fight hard to make that happen.
To find out more about how our Birmingham medication errors lawyers can help you, give us a call or contact us online today.
