Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

In an effort to reduce pharmacy misfills and medication error, the Medical Center of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has recently employed a series of pharmacy robots, according to recent technology news that our Baltimore-based pharmacy misfill attorneys have been following.

In the newly automated hospital pharmacy, UCSF has employed what they consider to be the most comprehensive robots on the market, to prepare and track medications and improve the safety of patients. According to UCSF, since the automated system took over in October 2010, there has not been a single error in the 350,000 medication doses prepared.

This newly automated pharmacy reportedly streamlines the delivery of medication from the prescription directly to the patient, making every step in the medication therapy process safe and effective--from deciding the best drug treatment to patient administration—in order to reduce medication error injury.

How the Robo-Pharmacy Technology works:

• The automated system reportedly prepares medications that are oral and injectable, including chemotherapy drugs that are toxic. The robots are also able to fill IV bags or syringes with medications.
• Once the computers receive a new electronic medication order from an UCSF physician and pharmacist, the robots pick the medication, package the drugs, and dispense doses of the pills that are individualized for each patient.
• The robots assemble medication doses into a thin plastic ring that contains a bar code with all of patients' medications for a period of 12 hours.
• In the fall of this year, all UCSF Medical Center nurses will start using bar code scanners that read patients’ medication data at their bedsides--a topic our attorneys have discussed in a recent Maryland pharmacy error injury blog--to verify that the patient is being treated with the correct medication.
• A robotic inventory management system also maintains all medication products, with pharmacy warehouses that provide both refrigerated and non-refrigerated drug and supply storage and retrieval.

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Our Maryland-based prescription drug error attorneys have been following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent announcement, ordering the makers of around 500 prescription cold, cough and allergy medications to take the drugs off the pharmacy shelves, as they have not been proven to be safe and effective.

According to the FDA, the prescription drugs in question have not been linked to any major problems or drug-related injuries, but the FDA is still concerned that the medical problems associated with the drugs could be seriously under reported.

The agency claims that the drugs have not been evaluated by the FDA, and taking them may be more of a risk to the consumer than taking over-the-counter (OTC) medications to treat the same symptoms, that have been approved. The FDA also claimed that the action is necessary to protect consumers from any health and safety risks posed by these unapproved drugs, as the agency does not know how they are made, whether they are effective, or what is in them.

One of the problems that the agency found was with time-release drugs, which are reportedly hard to manufacture, and can release too slowly or not at all if quality controls in the manufacturing of the drug are inadequate. The FDA also made a move against unapproved products that contain drug combinations that could be considered dangerous, like combining two antihistamines, which could react in oversedation.

Continue reading " 500 Unapproved Prescription Cough and Cold Medications Banned by FDA " »

Our Baltimore-based pharmacy error injury attorneys have been following the recent and tragic news story surrounding a Massachusetts woman, who endured a hospital medication error during a routine hospital stay that reportedly led to her wrongful death.

According to the Boston Globe, Geraldine Oswald was hospitalized in November of last year to clear up an infection that had developed after breaking her shoulder. While staying in the hospital, she reportedly received too much Lepirudin, a blood-thinning drug used to prevent the formation of potentially dangerous blood clots. The medication overdose affected Oswald’s own blood clotting ability, leading to internal bleeding. While in the hospital’s care, Oswald reportedly hemorrhaged for 12 hours before her wrongful death—which the hospital later stated could have been preventable.

The family of Oswald recently stated that they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Massachusetts General Hospital, two nurses and five doctors, claiming that Oswald was supposed to be treated for a common infection, and instead received a blood thinner that was 30 times too high in dosage, and proved to be lethal.

According to the hospital’s report, the on-duty nurse understood the dosage intended for Oswald, but made a medication error while administrating the dose into the I.V. pump. In a meeting with Oswald’s family members after her death, the hospital reportedly stated that the medical error was preventable.

Continue reading " Hospital Sued for Wrongful Death After Patient Dies from Drug Error " »

In a recent Baltimore pharmacy error injury blog, our attorneys discussed the prevalence of pharmacy misfills and prescription drug errors plaguing our nation, with over 1.5 million injuries medication-related events documented by an Institute of Medicine study.

According to a related study discussed by Good Housekeeping magazine, pharmacy errors occur in one out of every five prescriptions. Another study reportedly found that 18 percent of hospital patients are exposed to medication errors. When addressing the problem of pharmacy error and medication mistakes, it is important for the consumer to always check and make sure that the prescription given at the pharmacy is the exact medication prescribed by the doctor.

As our Maryland medication mistake lawyers discussed previously, taking the necessary steps to verify your prescription with the pharmacist before taking medication can prove to be an extremely valuable step in preventing medication error injury. A few pharmacy error prevention tips include:

When receiving a new prescription, always ask the doctor to write down the medical problem associated with the medication, as this could help prevent a pharmacy misfill. Also, when filling a prescription for the first time, it is important to check the prescription label carefully to verify the name, dosage and directions for usage. It is also important to form a relationship with the pharmacist, to discuss the medication directions, as well as any potential allergies or potential medication conflicts that could happen with any other current prescriptions or supplements.

Continue reading " Pharmacy Misfill and Medication Error Prevention " »