Medication Mistakes

Medication eases pain, controls the ravages of disease and saves lives. Patients rightly expect when they go to the doctor or hospital that the medication prescribed to them will be the proper drugs for the ailment and dispensed in the proper dosage. Unfortunately, errors in medication are all too common. They can leave patients with permanent injuries and damage to their health.

If you or a loved one in Pennsylvania has been harmed by a medication error, you need to discuss your situation with an experienced attorney who understands the serious consequences of a pharmaceutical mistake. At Munley, Munley & Cartwright, our lawyers understand pharmacology and have extensive experience investigating medication errors. We can put that experience to work on behalf of you or your family.  Contact us online today or call us toll free at 877-421-9173.

Medication errors are among the most common medical errors. They lead to an estimated 1.5 million preventable injuries a year, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has estimated. The extra costs of treating drug-related injuries in hospitals run as high as $3.5 billion each year.

A medication error is “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient or consumer," according to the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention.

Some common types of medication errors include incomplete patient information, lack of information about patient allergies or other medicines, miscommunication of drug orders caused by poor handwriting or confusion between drug names, and lack of appropriate labeling.

Studies suggest that 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals, and that is likely an underestimate. Another 800,000 occur in long-term health care settings. Roughly, 530,000 occur among Medicare patients in outpatient clinics.

Confusion caused by drugs with similar names accounts for about one-quarter of all errors reported to the Medication Error Reporting Program, which is operated jointly by the Institute of Safe Medication Practices and the U.S. Pharmacopeia. Labeling and packaging issues account for about one- third of errors, including 30 percent of fatalities.

The Food and Drug Administration receives medication error reports on marketed human drugs including prescription drugs, generic drugs and over the counter drugs. With doctors pushed to see more patients and spend less time on related tasks, the frequency of medication errors and preventable adverse drug events has become a cause for serious concern.

If you have experienced serious adverse reactions from a medication error, please contact our office to learn more about your legal rights and options. At Munley, Munley & Cartwright, our goal is to provide exceptional legal service to our clients. We strive to achieve the highest standard of excellence for the protection of individual rights. You can call the Munley, Munley & Cartwright law firm from anywhere in the United States toll free at 877-421-9173 or use our online contact form for a free consultation.