Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

In recent news, our Baltimore, Maryland medication error attorneys have been following the story of a recent tragedy, resulting in the death of a patient who went to the hospital for outpatient shoulder surgery, and died shortly after, due to a medication error.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Gary William Clezie went to Yakima Regional Medical & Cardiac Center in February 2009, for a simple outpatient arthroscopic shoulder surgery. A few hours after the surgery, Clezie reportedly suffered from brain damage, as a result of an alleged medication error, and died two days later, when his family agreed to remove the construction worker from life support.

After the surgery, Clezie received Dilaudid for his pain, a potent opioid drug for pain management. Clezie was given a device that allowed him to medicate as needed, by self-administering the drug. The doctor reportedly ordered that Clezie have a blood oxygen level monitoring device, that would alert the nursing staff if the oxygen in his blood dipped below a specific level—in which case the staff would alert the doctor, remove drug device from Clezie, and make sure that he was given oxygen.

But according to the Post-Intelligencer, Clezie’s blood-oxygen monitoring device was not attached to him, so when his blood oxygen level plummeted below the doctor’s defined level, his doctor was not notified, he was not removed from the drug device, and he was not given oxygen. Clezie stopped breathing and suffered severe brain damage from the error that led the misadministration of the pain medication.

Clezie’s family reportedly filed a complaint with the Department of Health’s licensing division and the Department of Health determined, as a result of the medication error, that there were grounds for a corrective action against Yakima. The Post Intelligencer claims that Clezie is one of thousands who suffer harm, personal injury, or even wrongful death from medical care in Washington hospitals every year.

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In recent pharmacy injury news, that our Baltimore, Maryland attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen, LLC have been interested in, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) recently held a nationwide prescription drug "take-back" day. The event was designed to curb health hazards and medication errors that can occur when people hold on to expired medications or throw away unwanted drugs.

According to the DEA, prescription drugs in home medicine cabinets are at great risk for misuse, abuse and theft, as reports show that a large majority of prescription medication errors and abuse come from the drug cabinets of friends and families. The initiative was also striving to combat drug abuse with kids, who are reportedly finding old unused drugs in homes, and bringing them to school, or parties to get high—resulting in tragic drug error injury.

Last week in a medication error in Washington State, nine teenagers were hospitalized after taking prescription medications that were found in homes and passed around at a school bus stop. The kids reportedly took painkillers and anti-depressants. In another case in Philadelphia, an 18-year old accidentally overdosed on a pain reliever medication found at home.

The DEA initiative set up around 4,000 “take-back” drop off sites across the country to encourage people to drop off drugs, where no questions were asked. People were encouraged to either remove the medication labels or to cross out personal information before dropping the drugs at the site.

Continue reading " DEA Fights Prescription Drug Errors and Abuse with National Take-Back Initiative " »

In a recent medical malpractice news story that our Washington D.C. medication error attorneys have been following, a patient at a medical center in Pittsburgh was reportedly administered anesthesia before surgery with the wrong syringe—a syringe that had been already used on another patient.

According to WXPI, patient Kimberlee Blocker was at Forbes Regional Hospital to undergo surgery, when the hospital reportedly gave her the wrong dosage of anesthesia, from a syringe that had previously been used on another patient. Blocker claims she was told after the surgery about the medication error, and that another patient’s syringe had accidentally been placed on her tray.

Blocker stated that after the medical mix-up occurred, she had to endure six tough months of hepatitis and HIV tests to determine if the alleged medical mistake with the wrong syringe had infected her with any diseases. She claims to have cried every time she took a test and was forced to wait two-weeks each time, for the results to come back.

Blocker claims that she could have easily died on that table as the medication that was mistakenly administered to her before the surgery was not prescribed for her. She is reportedly suing the hospital for negligence. Although Blocker’s HIV and hepatitis tests came back with negative results, she hopes that this lawsuit will help others from having to undergo this kind of treatment in the future.

Continue reading " Woman Sues Medical Center for Negligence Over Accidental Reuse of Syringe During Surgery " »

In a recent news story that our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury attorneys have been following, a two-year-old child was rushed to the hospital, after a prescription error was made at a Jersey City Walgreen's pharmacy, while dispensing the boy’s allergy medication prescription.

According to the Jersey Journal, the father of the young boy reportedly went to the Walgreen’s Pharmacy to pick up the prescription for his son’s hydrocortisone prescription, to treat his allergies. The pharmacy gave the father the correct medication for his child, and in addition, the wrong prescription for 10mg of oxycodone, a powerful pain medication that had been filled for a patient who shared the same last name and first initial as the boy.

Crystal Williams, the boy’s mother, reportedly gave her two-year-old child one of the Oxycodone pills, and after ten minutes was alarmed when the child looked dangerously sleepy. Williams then realized the serious pharmacy error that had occurred, after reading the label on prescription bottle—discovering that her child had been given a drug with someone else’s name on it.

Upon discovering the pharmacy error, Williams dialed 911, and rushed her child to the hospital where doctors reportedly gave him shots to keep him alert. A few hours later he was transferred to an intensive care unit at a different hospital. According to Michael Curci, the pharmacy director for LibertyHealth, which operates the Medical Center where the boy was originally taken, an excessive amount of oxycodone can be life threatening, as it can cause respiratory depression and the inability to breathe.

Continue reading " Walgreen’s Pharmacy Error Sends Two-year-old Child to the Hospital " »