Medical Malpractice

Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island, Queens, Manhattan, New York City, NY

Pharmaceutical Errors

 

The law firm of Silberstein, Awad and Miklos has been serving the people of New York for over 30 years. As medical malpractice lawyers, we have decades of combined experience representing those who have suffered injuries as a result of a pharmaceutical error.

 

While hard to believe, pharmaceutical errors account for approximately one-fourth of all medical malpractice cases. This is largely the result of the vast number of medications prescribed each year in this country. It is estimated that there are 2.5 billion prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies and 3.75 billion drugs in hospitals each year. Medication malpractice can be very serious and are one of the major sources of medical mistakes that cause injury or death.

 

Common pharmaceutical errors include:

 

• Wrong medication — The patient receives the wrong medication despite the doctor prescribing the correct one
• Drug name mix-ups — Several medications have similar names which can cause confusion between the physician and the pharmacist
• Wrong medication combinations — Many medications cannot be combined because of dangerous side effects or cross-reactions
• Side effects of medication — Every medication has some type of side effect. While some are mild, others can be fatal. Fatal side effects resulting from medication errors often occur when a doctor prescribes an inappropriate drug to a person with an allergy to that drug.

 

Pharmaceutical errors are not just limited to overdosing patients on their prescribed medications. Such errors also occur in the administration of the wrong medications, the failure to timely give the appropriate dose of the ordered medicines, the improper calculation of the correctly ordered dose of medicine, or the failure to order the proper medicines under the circumstances.

 

Pharmaceutical errors result in approximately 7,000 deaths and harm at least 1.5 million people each year. The additional expense for treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone is in the billions of dollars annually. As these statistics demonstrate, the emotional and financial toll on society caused by medication errors is staggering.

 

Pharmaceutical errors are among the most common causes of preventable harm to the American public. The number of injuries and deaths due to pharmaceutical errors is predicted to increase as the pressure on pharmacists to do more work in less time increases.

 

Symptoms of pharmaceutical errors can include:

 

• Nausea and vomiting
• Fatigue
• Allergic reaction
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Cramping
• Loss of control of bowels
• Loss of consciousness
• Stroke
• Paralysis
• Organ failure

 

Many medication errors fortunately do not result in any long term harm to the patient. Others can lead to immediate injury and death. Virtually all of these types of medication errors are avoidable.

 

Pharmaceutical errors are caused by many different factors including:

 

• Distraction
• Workload increases
• Under staffing

 

More than half of errors in the emergency department could be attributed to an improper dose, an omission, or a prescribing error. Heparin, a blood thinner used to treat and prevent blood clots, has received the most reports of improper dosage.

 

Many other errors occur due to the lack of communication and follow up between the ordering physician, the hospital pharmacy and the hospital personnel, like nurses, actually administering the medications.

 

Pharmaceutical error cases may be complex. A pharmaceutical error case may arise in a hospital and may involve multiple people who were involved in the prescription, preparation and administration of the medication. Accordingly, if you or a loved one has suffered harm as a result of a pharmaceutical error, please contact our medical malpractice lawyers to discuss your legal rights and who can answer all your questions, examine your case thoroughly, and help you plan the proper course of action.

 

 

 

Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C.
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