Prescription drugs are meant to manage chronic conditions, treat health concerns or maintain overall well-being. However, an incorrect prescription or administration can have devastating consequences.
Prescription errors harm one out of 30 patients worldwide, with over a quarter resulting in severe injuries or deaths. These medication mistakes vary depending on the liable persons or entities.
Identifying potentially liable parties
Healthcare providers have a duty of care to uphold, which includes giving correct prescriptions to their patients. Thus, anyone in the medication chain can be partly responsible.
- Doctors and nurses who write the wrong medicine or dosage, and fail to consider how the prescription can react to the patient’s current condition or medical history
- Pharmacists who misread a prescription or miss an important detail
- Retail pharmacies that sell counterfeit or contaminated products
- Pharmaceutical manufacturers or companies that fail to provide proper labels or warnings about a drug’s side effects
- Hospitals that fail to provide adequate staff training for appropriate prescription handling, dispensing or administering
If the negligent actions of these healthcare providers directly lead to harm, injured parties or family members of the deceased can pursue a medical malpractice claim. The extent of damage due to a prescription error can vary per situation, but it can become life-threatening without urgent medical intervention.
Preventing prescription errors
Open and clear communication is crucial to avoid the flawed transfer of information. Further, advanced tools and systems can help improve the accuracy of prescriptions. But despite preventive measures, negligence can still occur. Thus, patients or families can consider speaking with a Pennsylvania legal team. Doing so can secure an advocate in their corner, who is sensitive to their needs and ready to fight for fair compensation to cover bills and other losses.