Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

In a blog from earlier this year, our Washington D.C. pharmacy error injury attorneys discussed Dennis Quaid's high profile lawsuits against Baxter Heathcare Corporation, that were filed after his newborn twins were given a near-fatal overdose of Heparin, a blood thinner. The medication error was allegedly due to a mistake with Baxter’s look-alike labels, and the twins were given 10,000 units of Heparin instead of 10 units of Hep-Lock, originally prescribed to treat a staph infection.

In a recent medication error in Saskatchewan, Canada, four premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit at Royal University Hospital were prescribed the drug Heparin, the blood thinner used to prevent clots, and were mistakenly given insulin with the brand name Humulin R, and that was reported to have a similar looking label.

The pharmacy mistake was discovered because all infants were in the same unit, and their conditions were reportedly deteriorating in similar ways due to the insulin, which caused them to have dangerously low blood sugar levels. The infants mistakenly received the insulin in their IV infusion instead of Heparin.

In the review of the incident, the mistake was reported to be caused by an over crowded space in the pharmacy, a possible labeling error that was missed during the many safety checks, or an issue of look-alike labels.

Continue reading " Pharmacy Error Gives Wrong Drug to Premature Babies " »

In a related blog, our Baltimore, Maryland medical error attorneys discussed a recent study showing that implementing electronic health records significantly reduces medical and medication error, by integrating various systems across the country with hospitals and medical groups, to create a common platform for sharing patients’ medical records.

Health-care providers at the Tucson Medical Center (TMC) are reportedly achieving great success with a new electronic system using computerized scanning to verify their work. The electronic system is part of a new protocol at the medical center that was launched on June 1, 2010, after a $30 million upgrade to its electronic medical records system. Under the new system, each patient receives a bar code that is printed on a hospital bracelet. In an effort to reduce medication error and patient injury, before health-care providers can administer any medication, or perform any lab tests, the patient’s bracelet must be scanned, similar to a grocery checkout scanner. The medication must then also be scanned, to make sure that both the dosage and medication match the prescription for the patient.

In the preliminary three months of the new protocol, the system reportedly sent out around 1,500 medication error alerts that the health-care providers immediately corrected. Common medication errors like confusing continuous release and sustained release were also remedied, as the computer caught the medication errors after the patient’s bracelet was scanned.

According to Frank Marini, the CEO and vice president at TMC, the medical center implemented the electronic medical records in 2002, but still had paper charts for patients up until this year. Under the new federal health-reform law electronic medical records are a requirement.

Continue reading " Medication Error Reduced By “Scanning” Patients for Electronic Records " »

In recent news that our pharmacy error injury attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland have been following, CVS Pharmacy will reportedly pay $75 million for breaking the law by selling huge quantities of psuedoephedrine, the key ingredient in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, an illegal drug abused widely in California.

Psuedoephedrine, or PSE is found in specific cold and allergy medications, and necessary to produce methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant with links to crime and violence in California, among other states. In an effort to reduce pharmacy error, and production of methamphetamine, the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 was introduced, to require retailers who carry PSE products to shelf them behind the counter, to check the identification of the person purchasing the drug, and to limit sales to the individual or one package a day, and three a month. Each customer is also required to sign for the purchase.

According to Thomas Ryan, CVS Caremark Chairman, the sale of the products containing PSE was an illegal and unacceptable violation of CVS’s policies, and inconsistent with the drug chain’s values. The CVS company admitted that drugstores in California and Nevada, among other states, were susceptible for over a year to criminal manufacturers who repeatedly bought enough PSE to make Methamphetamine.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated that CVS’s violations made the company directly linked to the methamphetamine supply chain, and that the company only reversed the problem once the government investigated the pharmacy violation.

Continue reading " CVS Pays $75 million for Illegal Sale of Pseudoephedrine in Stores " »

A recent news article reports that medication errors are among the most common mistakes made by healthcare practitioners—and also among the most under reported.

In a tragic medication error from last year, a child at Seattle Children’s Hospital died from a medication error allegedly involving Calcium chloride. The hospital reported its mistakes to the health department and has acknowledged them publicly. Calcium chloride, the medication that reportedly caused the child’s death, is listed on the Institute for Safe Medication Practices' (ISMP) class of pharmaceuticals as one of the institute's "high-alert" medications.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), medical errors are one of the leading causes of death and injury in the U.S. The AHRQ reported in a recent study that rates for potential adverse drug events in hospitals were three times higher with children than adults, with an even higher rate for infants in intensive care units.

According to Dr. Allen Vaida, executive vice president of the Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), acknowledging medication errors and reporting them is the most important step toward prevention. Vaida claims that children are especially vulnerable to drug overdoses in hospitals because of calculation errors that can occur with medications. Nurses must administer the medication dosages according to a child's body weight and other necessary factors, that can lead to medication mistakes. He claims that in situations like this, it is important to share information about the medication errors that do occur, as reporting them can prevent errors from happening in the future.

Continue reading " Reporting Children’s Medication Errors Can Help in Prevention " »