Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

The family of a south Florida man has filed a lawsuit against North Shore Medical Center in Miami. The man, 79 year-old Richard Smith, died in July 2010 when he went to the hospital complaining of shortness of breath and received the wrong medication. The nurse who administered the allegedly fatal dosage received disciplinary sanctions and paid a fine, which the family does not find satisfactory.

Smith told doctors he had shortness of breath and an upset stomach. His treating physician ordered Pepcid, an antacid available over the counter. The ICU nurse instead took a vial of Pancuronium from a locked cart and put it in Smith’s IV. Pancuronium is a muscle relaxant used by the ICU when intubating a patient. In larger doses, it is used by the Florida prison system in executions as part of a three-drug cocktail. The drug does not affect consciousness, but does significantly impair motor functions. At high enough doses, a person would not be able to breathe.

According to hospital records, no one noticed Smith’s condition for thirty minutes. When hospital staff finally recognized the problem, Smith’s heart had stopped. Resuscitation efforts did not succeed in reviving him. An investigation by the state found that the nurse on duty not only failed to read the label on the medication, but failed to scan both the drug label and Smith’s patient ID bracelet. These would have alerted the nurse to the problem. Another report indicated that the nurse did not follow safeguards established for the drug cart containing the Pancuronium. The state cited the hospital for this failure. The hospital has reportedly removed Pancuronium from most nursing areas in the hospital and created a new packaging system with clearer warnings.

According to local news covering the story, the nurse still works at North Shore. He reportedly received a reprimand, paid a $2,800 fine to the state, and attended remediation courses. The hospital described this as appropriate counseling and re-training. Smith’s family disagrees, saying through their attorney that the nurse should not still be permitted to work with patients. This Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog has previously reported on cases where medication errors causing death have led to criminal convictions for involuntary manslaughter. In this instance, the consequences apparently end at professional discipline.

Continue reading "Hospital Patient Mistakenly Given Drug Used in Executions" »

A six-month-old child died in a Brooklyn hospital on October 25, 2011 after receiving an incorrect dosage of intravenous antibiotics. An investigation determined the overdose to be an accident, but the child’s family is reportedly weighing their legal options regarding claims against the hospital. Amaan Ahmmad’s family brought him to the hospital for a fever of around 100 degrees. Hospital records suggest the child was otherwise “alert and responsive.” After an examination, the child reportedly received a diagnosis of clinical pneumonia. No beds were available at the time, so hospital staff hooked Amaan up, while in his stroller, to an IV for the antibiotic Zithromax, known generically as azithromycin. An appropriate dose for an infant is around 80 milligrams, but the nurse setting up the IV reportedly gave him 500 milligrams. This is an appropriate dosage for an adult, not a 17-pound infant.

After receiving the antibiotic, the child immediately fell into a coma. Hospital records indicate that hospital staff did not notice anything wrong for about thirty-six minutes. The child’s mother told the media that she tried to tell hospital staff something was wrong, but they assured her the child was just sleeping. Once they realized the mistake, hospital staff put the child on life support, but it was apparently too late. After less than 24 hours, the child was removed from life support and pronounced dead.

One day after Amaan’s death, the New York City Medical Examiner ruled his death an accident, identifying complications following an adult dose of azithromycin as the cause of death. According to family members of the child, the hospital fired the nurse who administered the lethal dosage of antibiotics. The hospital reportedly expressed condolences to Amaan’s family but declined to comment to the media. The family told reporters that they are considering their legal options. They laid Amaan to rest on October 27.

This Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog has previously reported on efforts in some Maryland hospitals to catalogue pharmacy errors in the hopes of preventing future catastrophic mistakes. At this time, not enough information is available to determine how the medication error in Brooklyn occurred. The child clearly received an extremely excessive dose of the antibiotic. The error could have occurred in the pharmacy, at the point of administration of the drug, or at any point in between. A combination of errors could have contributed to the tragic outcome, or the negligence of a single hospital worker could prove to be the cause.

Continue reading "Infant Dies of Accidental Antibiotic Overdose in Hospital" »

According to a recent study discussed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), that our Baltimore medication error lawyers have been following, hospitalized patients are more likely to have medication errors than non-hospitalized patients—when drugs used to treat chronic conditions are unintentionally discontinued in hospitals, especially if the patients are in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

The study reportedly showed that transitions in healthcare can increase a patient’s chances for medical errors that stem from inaccurate or incomplete communication between the hospital staff, the primary care physician, and the patient—causing an interruption or discontinuation of medications that aim to help treat patients’ chronic diseases on a long term basis.

According to the authors, the problem of medication errors and the unintentional discontinuation of drugs can happen during hospital stays, transfers and discharge. Treatment in intensive care units can also increase the risk of medication errors of omission as the healthcare providers are focused on emergency care and may engage in the practice of discontinuing a medication used for chronic illnesses during a time of critical illness.

The medication error study followed nearly 400,000 patients who were older than 65, and who had over one year of experience continuously taking one of the following five drug classes: respiratory inhalers, gastric acid suppressors, statins, anticoagulant or antiplatelet agents, and levothyroxine, used to treat the thyroid gland.

Continue reading "Report Finds Medication Errors in Chronic Drug Therapy After Seniors Leave Hospitals" »

According to a recent report in Medical News Today that our Baltimore medical error injury attorneys have been following, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson has been appointed as the new Envoy for Patient Safety for the World Health Organization (WHO). Donaldson recently stated, in an effort to highlight the fact that healthcare safety around the world needs to be improved, that going to the hospital is far more dangerous than flying on an airplane, as the WHO reports that millions of people die annually from medical errors associated with healthcare—far more, according to Donaldson, than accidents on planes.

In his striking comparison, Donaldson claimed that if a patient entered the hospital he would have a 1 in 10 chance of experiencing a medical error, with the chances of wrongful death due to medical error being 1 in 300. Donaldson then stated that in comparison, the risk of dying in a plane crash is far less—approximately 1 in 10 million.

Donaldson reportedly stated that in an effort to reduce the growing number of hospital related infections resulting in patient injury or harm that happen every year, patients need to ask questions and make sure that hospitals maintain the basic hygiene standards and conform to the WHO’s healthcare checklist to prevent medical error or patient illness or injury during surgical procedures.

According to the WHO statistics, 7 in 100 patients in the hospitals throughout developed countries experience infections linked to healthcare, whereas in developing countries this number increases to 10 patients in every 100. The risk of infection is directly tied to the length of time a patient stays in the hospital's intensive care unit. The WHO figures show that risk of infection is lower in the United States than in Europe, but the death from hospital-acquired infection is higher. In the United States, 1.7 million hospital acquired infections reportedly happen every year, resulting in 100,000 deaths, and in Europe, 4.5 million hospital acquired infections happen every year, resulting in around 37,000 deaths.

Continue reading " WHO Claims Hospitals Are More Dangerous Than Airline Travel" »

In a recent Baltimore County pharmacy misfill injury blog, our attorneys discussed a tragic medical error that caused the death of an premature infant, after a pharmacy technician accidentally entered the wrong information into the computer, causing the intravenous solution prepared buy an automated machine to contain a lethal dose of sodium chloride. This pharmacy error has reportedly brought the issue of electronic medical health records safety concerns back into the forefront of patient safety.

As our attorneys have reported in a related Hartford County medication error injury blog, the medical industry is shifting toward electronic medical records and computerized systems that make medical processes and prescription orders automatic, in an effort to reduce pharmacy error injury or wrongful death.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the federal government is also currently helping the digital shift by giving $23 billion in incentives to healthcare providers who purchase the electronic systems, with the hopes that these medical technologies will help increase access to patients' medical information, help healthcare providers communicate better with each other, help doctors to see test results more quickly, and implement electronic safeguards to remind doctors about recommended medical practices, or to alert them about harmful drug interactions before prescribing.

With all of the benefits that come with electronic medical records and computerized systems, potential problems are also taking place, like crashing of hospital computers, or software bugs that interfere with important data, or even delete information from computerized records. Computerized systems also reportedly can produce data about patients that is disorganized or difficult to read, especially when a doctor is quickly looking for critical patient information.

Continue reading "The Benefits and Problems of Electronic Medical Records Systems" »

A recent Chicago Tribune article, that our Baltimore pharmacy misfill injury attorneys have been following, looks closely at electronic medical record safety, after a tragic medication error occurred, stemming from a computer mistake made at the Chicago-area Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, that caused the death of a newborn infant.

According to the article, Genesis Burkett, an infant born 16-weeks premature, was given a fatal overdose of sodium chloride last year, receiving over 60 times the dosage ordered by the physician. The hospital pharmacy error was reportedly made after a technician from the hospital pharmacy misread and inaccurately typed the doctor's handwritten prescription orders into a hospital computer—a common source of pharmacy misfills and errors, as attorneys have discussed recently in a Baltimore pharmacy error injury blog.

The data entry mistake then caused a pharmacy misfill, as the automated machine prepared an intravenous solution containing a lethal overdose of sodium chloride that caused the infant’s heart to stop. Advocate Health Care’s chief medical officer, Dr. Lee Sacks stated that the pharmacy error could have been prevented by the automated alerts on the IV compounding machine, but at the time that the customized bag was prepared for the infant, the alerts were not activated and connected to the main pharmacy information systems at the hospital. The family’s attorney reportedly blamed the pharmacy error and wrongful death on a mislabeled IV bag.

After the medication error led to the infant’s tragic death, Advocate has since added electronic alerts to the IV compounders and initiated other medication safety measures to prevent this kind of pharmacy error from happening in the future.

Continue reading "Safety of Electronic Medical Records Questioned After Pharmacy Error Leads to Death of Infant" »

In a recent Baltimore pharmacy error injury blog, our attorneys discussed a pharmacy misfill and medication error that lead to a 94-year-old nursing home resident's wrongful death in New York, after she received the incorrect medication for nearly twenty days as a result of a pharmacy misfill.

In a related news report, a patient in a nursing home, also in the State of New York, has recently died, after medication errors allegedly led to her wrongful death.

The patient reportedly entered the Lake Ridge Care Center on the 10th of January in 2010, due to congestive heart failure and low potassium. Her doctor reportedly ordered that the she receive three doses (two-tablets) of potassium every day. According to the New York State investigation, the staff of the home failed to properly administer twenty-six of the medication doses to the patient over a period of eight days.

On January 23, 2011, the patient was reportedly sent to the hospital emergency room, where she suffered a severely abnormal heart rhythm and died the same day, from cardiac arrest. Her potassium levels were found to be extremely low, due to medication errors that led her to miss her prescribed potassium doses to help blood pump through the heart.

Continue reading "Medication Errors Linked to Death of Patient in Nursing Home" »

The Food and Drug Administration recently issued a warning about the potentially dangerous medication errors occurring with the drugs Risperdal (risperidone) and Requip (ropinrole)—with 226 reports of patients accidentally receiving the wrong drug, causing sickness and at least one death.

Risperdal (risperidone) is an antipsychotic used for the treatment of schizophrenia, autism side effects and bipolar disorder, and is reportedly being confused with Requip (ropinirole), a drug used for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and Restless Legs Syndrome, that acts in place of dopamine.

According to the Food and Drug Administration report, the medication errors are happening as a result of the drug name similarity as well as the similarity in generic drug labels and packaging, with overlapping drug characteristics such as the drug strengths, and dosing intervals. Other errors have reportedly stemmed from illegible handwriting on prescriptions.

Patients who were victims of the medication errors have reportedly experienced confusion, tiredness, hallucinations, and an altered or changed mental status, among others health problems.

The FDA warns patients who are taking the generic versions of Requip or Risperdal to notice the name and appearance of their medication, to know exactly why they are taking the drug, and to ask any questions and to report any difference in medication appearance to their pharmacists—to avoid pharmacy misfills or medication errors.

Continue reading "FDA Warns of Confusion between Risperdal and Requip, Leading to Medication Error" »

In recent news that our Rockville, Maryland medication error injury attorneys have been following, twelve Los Angeles-area hospitals were hit with administrative penalties this week by the California Department of Public Health, ranging from $25,000 up to $75,000, after the facilities were found to be non-compliant with requirements that were likely to cause serious injury or death to patients.

One medical center, Promises Hospital, was reportedly fined $50,000 for a medication mix-up that caused a patient with a heart condition to require emergency response.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a medication error was reported in 2010 that led to the inspection of Promises Hospital. The inspectors reportedly found that a patient was given a dose of Cardizem, the drug used to treat irregular heart rhythms, that was 10 times the ordered dose—causing the patient’s heart rate to drop so quickly that the nurse was unable to get a blood reading for almost 10 minutes.

According to the department, when problems are found in facilities, hospitals must take corrective actions to prevent any similar medication errors or other problems from happening in the future, and causing injury or death to patients.

Promises Hospital reportedly claimed that it has initiated an investigation into the drug error, and has taken the necessary steps to prevent this medication mix-up for happening again in the future.

Continue reading "Hospital Fined $50K in Medication Mistake" »

The Institute of Medicine, reports that every year, 1.5 million people are injured by medication-related events. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), that our Baltimore medication error injury attorneys have been following, a recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), found that the number of patients treated in hospitals across the country for illnesses and personal injuries from incorrectly taking medications like sedatives, blood thinners, corticosteroids and other drugs, increased over 50% from 2004 to 2008.

The report also found that over 800,000 U.S. patients were also treated in emergency rooms across the country in medication-related events, stemming from the incorrect usage of antibiotics, insulin, painkillers, and cardiovascular and other drugs. The WSJ looked at some of these individual drugs, to examine how they can cause personal harm or injury if taken incorrectly. According to the report:

• Antibiotics can cause an allergic reaction if taken incorrectly, and can also fail to properly fight infections. Also, when taking antibiotics, patients are generally cautioned to limit sun exposure, as it can cause extreme sunburns.
• Painkillers can cause breathings problems or even death if taken with alcohol or other sedatives or painkillers. OTC products that contain the ingredient acetaminophen can harm the liver if taken with a combination of opioid-acetaminophen drugs.
• Antidepressants and tranquilizers, if taken incorrectly, can lead to panic attacks and suicidal tendencies or actions.
• If taken erroneously, corticosteroids prescribed for asthma, arthritis, transplant patients, ulcerative colitis, and other conditions, can worsen other health conditions, like high blood pressure, blood sugar problems, ulcers, and diabetes, and can also lead to withdrawal if a patient stops taking them suddenly.
• Insulin, if not taken as prescribed, can both increase or reduce a patient’s blood-sugar levels, leading to shock and other health complications.
• If a patient fails to take blood thinners correctly, a high dose that is too high can cause bruising, excessive bleeding, whereas a dose that is too low can cause clotting. Effectiveness of the drug can also be threatened when interacting with other medications.
• Blood pressure drugs can also, if the medication is taken erroneously, cause a spike in blood pressure, and an overdose can cause chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, a fast or abnormally slow heartbeat, and can also cause coma.
• Cancer drugs, when taken in error, can cause fever, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, diarrhea, cause confusion and fatigue, and when an overdose is taken, can even cause death.

Continue reading "Lack of Medication Adherence Can Cause Serious Medication Reactions and Injury " »

In a recent Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the increasing medication errors resulting from the incorrect administration of Fentanyl, the strong pain relieving medication patch. If a medication error occurs with Fentanyl, the improper administration of the drug can lead to a drug overdose or even wrongful death.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit that our Baltimore pharmacy error attorneys have been following, Monika Standing and Chris Bristol are suing Watson Pharmaceuticals and two corporate affiliates after their daughter Nicole died three weeks after using the 75-microgram time-released fentanyl patches in January 2008. Nicole’s parents claim that her fentanyl patch, made by Watson, leaked—causing Nicole to suffer an overdose of the fentanyl gel inside, leading to her death.

According to the lawsuit, the fentanyl patches made by Watson used a faulty design, creating a patch that was prone to leaks, which lead to possible overdoses and deaths. Other patches made by competitors reportedly had a safer patch design that did not leak.

Last week, as the case developed, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge reportedly ordered Watson Pharmaceuticals to turn over pain patch samples, any materials used for commercials or marketing, all written communication between Watson Pharmaceuticals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration involving the usage and safety of the fentanyl patch, all experiments or studies done involving fentanyl patch levels in the user’s bloodstream when using the patch, all autopsy reports and papers involving deaths while using the patch, and transcripts of all depositions taken of any Watson employee or key expert witness in a previous defective fentanyl pain patch lawsuit, and also ordered certain key executives from the company to testify about the pain patches.

Continue reading "Pharmaceutical Company Must Reveal Fentanyl Patch Data in Wrongful Death Lawsuit" »

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 recent news that our pharmacy misfill injury attorneys in Washington, D.C. have been following, a medication error occurred in a local pharmacy, after a pregnant woman in Colorado was mistakenly given the incorrect medication for another patient who had a similar sounding name.

According to KDVR-TV, Mareena Silva, who is six weeks pregnant, went to Safeway to pick up her antibiotics and was mistakenly given the prescription for Maria Silva, containing Methotrexate, a medication reportedly used to treat cancer.

By the time Silva realized the pharmacy misfill, she had already reportedly taken the first pill. Silva reportedly rushed back to Safeway, where the pharmacist recommended that she throw the pill up, as it had been 30 minutes since she took the medication. Her doctor then sent an ambulance to Safeway.

Methotrexate, the drug Silva took due to the prescription mix-up, can reportedly cause birth defects in an unborn baby. The drug is also reportedly used to cause abortions in pregnancies that are troubled. The manufacturer also warns that there have been reported deaths linked to the incorrect administration of this drug.

After picking up what she thought was the antibiotic, the pharmacist reportedly even stated that the prescribed drug was not good for a pregnant woman. What Silva didn’t realize at the time is that the pharmacist was talking about the Methotrexate.

Continue reading "Dangerous Safeway Pharmacy Mix-up Gives Pregnant Woman Wrong Medication" »

As our Baltimore County pharmacy error attorneys discussed in a recent blog, according to a recent study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), medical errors are a leading cause of personal injury and death in this country, and rates for possible adverse drug events were three times higher with children than adults in hospitals, with an even higher rate for infants in intensive care units.

In a new study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a report found that preparing small medication dosages from syringes for infants and children can be dangerously inaccurate and cause medication dosing errors.

According to the report, in administering potent drugs to young patients, small doses are often prepared from medication stock of less than 0.1 milliliter (mL) in size, but the current equipment used to administer the drug does not allow for the correct and accurate measuring of drug volumes that are less than 0.1 mL.

Dr. Christopher Parshuram, the author of the study, who works in the University of Toronto's Department of Pediatrics and directs the University of Toronto Center for Patient Safety's Pediatric Patient Safety Research, stated that medications regularly requiring small doses include narcotics and sedatives that are extremely powerful, such as morphine and fentanyl—both drugs that as our Maryland medication error attorneys have reported in a recent blog, have a high-risk for medication mistakes which could lead to patient injury or wrongful death.

Continue reading "Study Finds Small Doses of Drugs From Syringes Could Cause Medication Error in Children" »

In a recent blog, our Baltimore County pharmacy misfill attorneys discussed the prevalence of medication error cases resulting from the incorrect administration of the strong pain relieving medication Fentanyl, also called Duragesic—that if used erroneously can lead to a drug overdose and even wrongful death.

According to a recent article by Michael Cohen, president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, (ISMP), Fentanyl is around 100 times more powerful than morphine and for that reason should only be prescribed to people with chronic and long-term pain, like cancer patients, who are opiod-tolerant from already taking heavy prescription narcotics, or opioids, for one week or longer. As Cohen describes, Fentanyl is effective for three days, keeping patients with long-term pain from having to medicate repeatedly during the day.

As our Baltimore, Maryland medication error attorneys reported in a related blog, Fentanyl should only be used with patients who are opioid-tolerant because even the lowest strength Fentanyl patches have the ability to cause major side effects, like breathing difficulties, which can lead to wrongful death. According to the 2007 FDA warning, the Fentanyl patch should not be used with patients who are not opioid-tolerant.

Cohen explains that patients who are opioid tolerant and tolerant of other prescription pain medications have less of a chance of experiencing breathing difficulty when using a Fentanyl patch that is properly prescribed, as stopped breathing is often what kills patients in an overdose. According to Cohen, the big medication mistake currently being made by doctors is using Fentanyl to treat pain post-surgery pain, called acute postoperative pain, which should be treated by using other painkillers.

The ISMP has reportedly been receiving fatality reports since the drug has been introduced, but September of last year proved to be a devastating month for Fentanyl medication overdoses, as three tragic deaths occurred after patients were given Fentanyl by their doctors erroneously, with doses that were too high, at 50mcg/hour.

Continue reading "ISMP—Prescribing Fentanyl Pain Medication for Short-Term Pain Be Deadly" »

In recent news that our Washington D.C. pharmacy error attorneys have been following, a nursing home was fined $12,000 last month, after a pharmacy misfill caused a nursing home resident to receive the incorrect medication for 18 days, leading to her wrongful death.

The Auburn Citizen reports that according to an investigation by the New York State Health Department in March and April of 2009, Geraldine Burke, a 94-year-old resident, was given tablets of a blood pressure medicine and diuretic by three different nurses in the Cayuga County Nursing Home, instead of the thyroid medication she had been prescribed.

The tragic medication error reportedly happened as a result of a pharmacy misfill, where a technician at HealthDirect, a separate division of Kinney Drugs that provides pharmacy services for more than 100 facilities, had filled and shipped the wrong medication for Burke. The two medications reportedly had similar looking names—methimazole and metolazone—a common medication mistake that plagues pharmacies in this country, as our lawyers have reported in a recent blog.

Neither the pharmacy or the nursing home recognized the mistake, and Burke was given 11 doses of Metolazone, the diuretic. The autopsy reportedly found that Burke died from heart issues, that were a result of kidney failure, worsened by the diuretic, along with other conditions. When the facility discovered the medication error after her death, they reported it to the Health Department, where they were fined $12,000. Burke’s family sued Cayuga County for negligence, and in turn Cayuga sued HealthDirect for their pharmacy misfill.

Continue reading "Pharmacy, Nursing Home Sued After Pharmacy Misfill Leads to Resident’s Death" »

In a recent blog, our pharmacy misfill error injury attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland discussed the importance of medication therapy management (MTM) check-ups with a pharmacist, to avoid medication error, pharmacy misfill, and potentially dangerous drug mix-ups that can lead to patient injury or even wrongful death.

The goal of an MTM is to get the maximum benefit from a patient's prescription medication, and to have the opportunity to ask the pharmacist questions, as one would talk with their doctor, to avoid any medication error, possible side effects or problems with single or multiple medications.

People who reportedly benefit from consulting a pharmacist about medication management are:

• Patients taking medication for more than one chronic condition such as diabetes, depression, asthma, or high blood pressure.
• Patients who are taking one drug with potentially risky side effects, such as the blood thinner warfarin, or medication for seizures.
• Patients who have a hard time following a medication schedule, who forget to take their medicine, or skip them because they are experiencing side effects.

When attending an MTM, Family members or care givers are recommended to join the patient, and patients are advised to bring all medication with them, and if diabetic, their blood-glucose meter along as well. An MTM meeting is recommended once a year, unless the patient is prescribed a new medication and experiencing troubling side effects, a possible medication error, or if the patient is having monthly scheduled meetings the pharmacist.

Continue reading "A Pharmacy’s Guide to Medication Therapy Management" »

Last year, our Baltimore medication error attorneys reported on two cases involving alleged overdoses of the powerful pain medication Fentanyl—one blog discussed a wrongful death lawsuit, where an 68-year-old died after allegedly receiving an incorrect dosage of the potent pain killer, and another blog discussed an overdose of duragesic pain patches, where a care center staff reportedly failed to follow the doctor’s prescription and wait 72 hours before increasing the pain dosage, which also led to a fatal overdose.

In recent news, the widow of a man from Illinois is suing a local pain treatment center for the wrongful death of her husband, due to a medication error of Fentanyl, administered through a SynchroMedII pump. According to Sue Daniels, her husband Tony was admitted in December 2009 to the Piasa Pain Center and was given an incorrect dosage of Fentanyl, which caused him to overdose from the medication error and led to his death. When Daniels became unresponsive from the overdose, he was transferred to Alton Memorial Hospital. Sue claims that the Fentanyl injections caused him to suffer from severe brain damage and lung injuries. He died two years later.

Sue Daniels accuses the pain center of negligence for administering the lethal dosage of pain medication, and blames the managers of the pain center for failure to properly train the medical staff on how to use the equipment. Alton hospital is also named in the suit for not treating Daniels fast enough after the overdose, and for running the Piasa Pain clinic that reportedly administered prescription drug error. Medtronic is also listed as a defendant for manufacturing a pain pump that is allegedly defective.

Sue Daniels is asking for over $500,000 in damages for medical bills, court costs, pain and suffering.

The opioid fentanyl is a narcotic used for patients who are opioid-tolerant from using another potent narcotic pain medication for a week or more. The opioid-tolerant patients are often prescribed Fentanyl when they need an even stronger narcotic for strong pain relief. Fentanyl is only recommended for patients who are opioid-tolerant, as even the lowest strength fentanyl patch has the ability to cause severe side effects, and even wrongful death, according to the FDA. The FDA does not recommend fentanyl patch usage with patients who are not opioid-tolerant—as the warning stated in 2007.

Continue reading " Man Died from Overdose of Fentanyl—Widow Sues Center for Medication Error" »

According to the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), medication-related events are a massive problem to this country’s public health and well being. As our Baltimore medication error injury attorneys have reported in a related blog, according to the APhA, 1.5 million people are injured by medication errors every year, that cost around $177 billion in personal injury and death, and could be preventable.

Ed Webb, associate executive director of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, recently stated that prescribed medication is only beneficial if taken correctly, and if medication therapy is not managed well, it can do harm. Webb, along with other experts, recommends medication checkups, known in the business as medication therapy management, or MTM.

As our Baltimore pharmacy error attorneys also discussed recently in a blog, more and more people are being encouraged to make appointments with their pharmacists as well as their doctors to discuss the medications that they take in an effort to prevent medication error, pharmacy misfill or patient injury.

Patients reportedly often end up saving money when meeting with pharmacists, by switching prescriptions to generic drugs instead of brand-name, or dropping medications that they may no longer need. Other patients are often able to eliminate medication side effects with help from a pharmacist on the best time to take the medication, possibly changing to a different drug, or avoiding a potentially dangerous mix-up of drugs, which can lead to expensive trips to urgent care or emergency rooms and result in personal injury.

Continue reading "Medication Therapy Management and the Prevention of Medication Error " »

In recent news that our Washington D.C. nursing home attorneys have been following, a medication error lawsuit has been filed against a local hospital in Salt Lake City, after a patient died from receiving an alleged overdose of a potent pain medication.

According to Deseret News, Clarence Burton was admitted to Woodland Care Center on August 1, 2008, to be supervised by nurses while he underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatment at St. Mark’s Hospital. Burton was reportedly fighting bone cancer, and had been prescribed the brand name pain medication patches Duragesic, containing the strong medication fentanyl to help him deal with the pain.

The lawsuit alleges that the care center staff members made a grave medication mistake when they failed to follow the doctor’s prescription, which was to give Burton one 50-milligram pain patch every 72 hours. The manufacturer of Duragesic also advises to wait 72 hours before increasing the pain medication dosage. Instead, the staff allegedly applied three pain medication patches on Burton’s neck, and he was found a few hours later, lying the floor in complete cardiac arrest.

When Woodland was met by the emergency personnel, they were reportedly unable to revive him, and he was taken to the hospital, where he was given another drug to counteract the fentanyl overdose. Burton was later resuscitated, but according to the lawsuit, remained unresponsive, as he had sustained sepsis, renal insufficiency, and elevated liver function as a result of the alleged malpractice. Burton was taken to another care center six days later, where he died on August 9, 2008.

Continue reading "Healthcare Center Sued for Wrongful Death After Man Dies from Pain Medication Overdose" »