Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

In yesterday’s blog, our medication error attorneys discussed a recent accidental overdose of epinephrine that led to a man's death in a hospital. According to the FDA, Epinephrine is a high alert medication that could cause significant patient harm or injury when used in error. Medication error can occur when there is confusion in regard to epinephrine product ratio strengths. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices, ISMP, has received a number of fatality reports due to miscalculations of strengths of epinephrine injections.

In similar epinephrine news, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), announced a National Alert Network (NAN) message this month, to warn healthcare providers about dangerous medication mistakes that could be caused by a shortage of pre-filled epinephrine syringes.

The NAN warning states that emergency syringes of epinephrine in 1mg/10mL (0.1 mg/ml) are currently on backorder from the Hospira Inc., the only manufacturer of the product after the pharmaceutical company Amphastar stopped making its emergency syringes of the drug in 2009.

According to ASHP’s director of medication use, quality and improvement, Bona Benjamin, Epinephrine is a life saving drug used in ambulances, hospitals and any other emergency settings when a patient’s heart has stopped.

Benjamin claimed that the shortage of epinephrine does not effect quantities of the EpiPen, the epinephrine injection products that are self administered in .3 mg and .15 mg doses, to remedy severe emergency reactions to food, medication, insect bites, and other reactions of an allergic nature.

Continue reading " Drug Alert Warns Epinephrine Syringe Shortage Could Lead to Dosing Error Risks " »

Our Maryland Medication Error Attorneys have been reading about the tragic incident that happen in Maine recently, after a local man went to the emergency room with symptoms of anaphylaxis, and was given an overdose of the drug epinephrine—causing his wrongful death.

After suffering an allergic reaction from eating seafood that included facial swelling and thickening of the tongue, Timothy Harvey, 51, went to the Mayo Regional Hospital emergency room for treatment. Harvey was reportedly given 0.3 milligrams of epinephrine, and reportedly showed good signs of improvement.

While Harvey was being observed by the hospital staff, he had another allergic attack, with some of the earlier symptoms. The staff reportedly gave him another dose of epinephrine, but accidentally administered an incorrect dosage of the drug, causing a medication error that was ten times the normal dose, 3 milligrams instead of 0.3 milligrams.

According to the FDA, Epinephrine is a high alert medication that could cause significant harm or patient injury when used in error. When Harvey started to experience chest pain and shortness of breath, the medical team discovered the mistake, and immediately contacted the poison control center to attempt to reverse the effects of the drug, but with no success. The Epinephrine overdose ultimately killed Harvey, despite the hospital staff’s many attempts to save his life.

Continue reading " Man Dies After Receiving Overdose of Drug in Hospital " »

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego recently published a study in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, examining the myth of the “July Effect”—a legend that considers July a dangerous month for hospital patients to undergo treatment.

The study found that fatal medication errors in hospitals are at their highest in July, especially in teaching hospitals. July is reportedly the month when recent medical students graduates report to residencies in teaching hospitals and are given new responsibilities for patient care.

In their research, Dr. David Phillips and Gwendolyn Barker studied the relationship between medication error and inexperience in July, when thousands of medical residents begin their residencies. The research focused on the changes in the total number of medication mistakes; which includes medicine given and taken in error, accidental drug overdose, accidental medication errors in medical and surgical procedures, and drugs taken accidentally.

The study inspected 244,388 death certificates across the country, focusing on fatal medication errors that were recorded as the primary cause of death between 1979 and 2006—comparing the July death numbers with the number of events that are expected in any month in any year.

Continue reading " “July Effect” Study—Report Suggests July is the Worst Month for Fatal Medication Errors " »

Recently our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen, LLC discussed the topic of medication mistakes with children in a blog, after actor Dennis Quaid filed another lawsuit against Baxter Healthcare Corporation, after his twins were given a near fatal dose of medication in the hospital.

Sadly, in another children's medication mistake incident that our attorneys have been following, a 19-month child in Omaha recently died after being given medication in a hospital that was improperly administered into her body.

The child, Alicia Coleman, was born twelve weeks premature, and battled a gastrointestinal disorder, but had been a fighter from the start according to her mother, Dominique Coleman, and was reportedly getting stronger with improved health. Coleman claimed that doctors had even recently claimed that her daughter’s medications would soon be cut in half, as the child was just starting to walk and talk.

Coleman claims that after dropping her daughter off at Children’s Home Healthcare’s World, where Alicia was due to receive medication, a nurse mistakenly made a medication error while giving the child a drug that was supposed to slow the absorption of food in her system. Instead of putting the drug into Alicia’s feeding tube, the drug was reportedly put into a tube that was the central line to the child’s heart, causing a seizure and cardiac arrest.

Continue reading " Medication Mistake Causes Accident Death and Takes Toddler’s Life " »

As medication mistake attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland, we have been following a recent lawsuit filed by the family of an 82-year old patient, who died last year after a medical mistake was made in the recording of her medical history—that led to her receiving a medication dosage that was seven times the strength of her original prescription.

Eileen Funston was reportedly admitted to UPMC Passavant Hospital, in Pittsburg, PA in October of last year, where her medication history was reportedly recorded incorrectly by the doctor.

Funston’s dosage of methotrexate, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, was reportedly recorded as 12.5 milligrams per day, which should have been 12.5 milligrams per week. The medication error in her medical records was reportedly not detected, and was then repeated in her records when she was moved to another care center.

Funston’s family claims that the medication mistake lead to an overdose of methotrexate, causing Funston to suffer internal bleeding, that cause her to aspirate blood. She was reportedly moved back to UPMC Passavant hospital, where she died.

Continue reading " Family Sues UPMC Hospital for Medication Mistake that Led to Wrongful Death " »