Millions of Americans look to pharmaceutical drugs for help with a wide variety of ailments. These drugs have to go through many steps in order to get to the patient—and with each step, there are new risks for potentially disastrous errors. The pharmacy, for example, is one place where mistakes commonly occur. Here’s a brief look at the prevalence of pharmacy errors, the potential risks, and what you should do it you’re ever harmed:
Types of Pharmacy Errors
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, medication mistakes cause over 700,000 visits to the emergency room every year, and $3.5 billion goes towards undoing the damage done by adverse drug effects. There are many ways in which a pharmacy error can occur; a pharmacist can misread the doctor’s notes, miscount the number of pills, give the wrong pills, enter the wrong information into the system, or make any number of errors that result in a patient receiving the wrong dosage or the wrong drug.
Potential Consequences
Millions of us rely on our prescriptions in order to stay healthy. Receiving the wrong pills can cause severe health problems due to unexpected interactions with other drugs or health conditions, leading to serious illness or even death. Errors regarding the dosage of a particular drug could lead to either overdose or ineffectiveness.
What to Do if Harmed
If you or a family member has recently been the victim of a pharmacy error, it’s important that you hire a skilled personal injury lawyer. Though mistakes do sometimes happen, it’s a pharmacist’s job to ensure that the prescriptions are filled correctly. You shouldn’t have to pay for a pharmacist’s negligence—instead, you should hire an attorney and seek fair compensation for your damages.
Have You Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice?
If you've been injured in a medical malpractice case, you need to speak with an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. Please contact us online or call our Gaithersburg office directly at 301.840.0404 to schedule your free consultation.
