Patient Safety

Victims of Dangerous Pharmacy Mistakes Shouldn’t Feel Guilty about Filing a Claim

December 1, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It is common for the victims of prescription mistakes and other potentially dangerous medical errors to feel sympathy for medical professionals who made a mistake that could form the basis for a lawsuit. In fact, some victims decide not to report an error or make a claim because they feel guilty revealing a potentially career-ending mistake that was innocently made by a pharmacist or another medical professional.

Although this feeling is understandable, the victims of pharmacy errors should not feel guilty about bringing claims seeking damages to which they are entitled. In fact, pharmacy error claims ultimately benefit not only the retail pharmaceutical industry and pharmacists as a whole, but also the American people by helping form a professional and respected occupation that is responsible for the health and lives of our citizens.

Pharmacy Industry Report Discusses the Motivation Within the Industry that is Caused by Error Claims

An article recently published by a pharmaceutical industry magazine attempts to show the issue of pharmacy errors from a pharmacist’s perspective. In the report, one pharmacist is spotlighted, and he discusses the effect that pharmacy errors have had on his career. Referring to the errors as “inevitable” in the careers of pharmacists, the article demonstrates the idea that pharmacy error claims and lawsuits, and more specifically the desire to avoid them, provide a great deal of motivation to those in the pharmaceutical industry and may actually improve the overall quality of care by incentivizing accuracy when dispensing prescription medications.

The Most Dangerous Aspect of a Pharmacy Error May Not Be the Side Effects of the Unprescribed Medication

August 22, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription drugs are controlled by the government for a reason. They are often very powerful medications that can be dangerous when taken at the same time as other medications, they may be easily abused, and they may have very sensitive dosing instructions. However, when a doctor prescribes a patient a prescription medication, it is often very important that the patient take the medication as directed. A patient’s failure to do so may result in a worsening of symptoms, resulting in a serious injury or death.

This risk of injury translates to a very important duty on the part of the pharmacist to ensure that the patient’s prescriptions are properly filled, dosed, and dispensed. A pharmacist’s failure to properly complete a patient’s prescription may mean that a patient is not receiving the medication that they need. Any worsening of symptoms caused by a pharmacist’s mistake may be the basis for a personal injury lawsuit. One recent example of a pharmacy error illustrates how serious the repercussions can be when a patient fails to get his physician-prescribed medication.

Man Requires Kidney Transplant after Pharmacy Error

Earlier this year, an Ohio man was diagnosed with stage 5 renal failure after the pharmacy where he fills his blood-pressure medication accidentally gave him anti-seizure medication. According to one local news source covering the tragedy, the error occurred when the pharmacy technician filling the prescription overrode an error that was supposed to alert him that he was filling the prescription with the wrong medication.

Pharmacy Errors Involving Injectable Drugs Administered in Medical Facilities

August 15, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When most people think of pharmacy errors, they think of a busy pharmacist behind the counter at a grocery store or retail pharmacy. However, pharmacy errors occur in all shapes and sizes and at all locations, including errors in medications that are administered in the hospital by medical professionals. Many of these errors include injectable medications that are given to the patient through an IV.

Of course, the ultimate burden of ensuring that a medication is safely administered to the patient lies with the pharmacist and, in cases of inpatient care, also with the nurse or doctor administering the medication to the patient. Whenever a patient is given the wrong medication or even the wrong dose of the correct medication, that patient may suffer a serious adverse reaction, potentially resulting in serious injuries or even death. In these circumstances, the patient or their family may be entitled to monetary compensation through a personal injury lawsuit. This is among the reasons that pharmaceutical companies take the possibility of errors involving their medication very seriously.

Pharmaceutical Company Develops System to Reduce Error Rates among Injectable Medications

It is estimated that the total number of errors involving injectable medications is roughly 1.2 million per year, making these errors not as uncommon as most people think. The cost of injectable medication errors reaches into the $5 billion range, and this figure cannot accurately take into account the pain and suffering of the patients and families involved. Because of the severity and frequency of these errors, one pharmaceutical company developed a specialized system to help combat injectable medication errors at hospitals across the country.

People Suffering from Complex Diseases Experience More Frequent Medication Errors

May 27, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Almost everyone has been to the pharmacy to fill a prescription at some point in their life. In fact, many people routinely visit the pharmacy each month to get their regular prescriptions filled for maintenance medications. Some of these frequent pharmacy customers have many different prescriptions of which the pharmacist must keep track. And in the case of some HIV patients, the varying doses of the prescribed medication adds yet another element for pharmacy staff to handle.

No matter how complex a patient’s prescription order may be, pharmacists are required to take their time with each order, ensuring that it is properly filled and labeled. In the case of some patients with complex prescription orders, like those diagnosed with HIV, this may mean a significant amount of work for the pharmacist, including fielding constant updates from a patient’s care providers about the patient’s status and current prescription requirements. With this increased workload, unfortunately, comes an increased chance that an error will be made.

HIV Patients Are Especially at Risk for Medication Errors

According to a recent article by an industry news source, a study may have come up with a way that can decrease the likelihood of medication errors in HIV patients. As with other illnesses, the transitional time between care providers is the most dangerous time for HIV patients. The premise of the study was simple: increase the amount of face-to-face contact the pharmacist has with the patient. Specifically, the pharmacist would be present at the patient’s admission to the hospital as well as each day for some defined period.

Pharmacists Try New Approach to Reduce Medication Errors, Focusing on Increased Communication

May 13, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Pharmacy errors are more common than most people realize, with approximately 7,000 deaths each year being attributed to medication errors. Many of these medication errors occur at retail and hospital pharmacies, where busy pharmacists scramble to fill thousands of prescriptions each day. Even a good-hearted and well-intentioned pharmacist can get overwhelmed by the workload and make a seemingly small mistake that can have enormous consequences for the patient.

Several pharmacies in Vermont are trying to do things a little differently in hopes of decreasing pharmacy errors. According to a recent NPR article, at least two pharmacies in this state are putting together daily packets of medication for their patients so that the patient does not need to open the pill bottles, which may number in the dozens, and keep track of the medication themselves. The packets are prepared 30 days in advance so that a patient can get all their prescriptions for the month in one trip to the pharmacy. The patients who receive this service are mostly elderly and take between 15 and 20 pills per day.

Of course, this system does give rise to concerns about accuracy. One pharmacist explained that a patient he was caring for recently went into the hospital and was taken off a certain cardiac medication. However, the pharmacy was not notified and ended up providing the patient with the pill, even though the provider had stopped prescribing the medication. The pharmacist, seeing this as a big problem with the system, also addresses this concern. Through increased communication with their patients’ medical care providers, pharmacists try and keep up to date with patients’ prescriptions so that a patient’s daily packets do not result in non-prescribed medication being provided to the patient.

Food and Drug Administration Recommends Specific Protocols to Avoid Prescription Errors

May 6, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Medication errors are a major cause of serious injury and death in the United States. In fact, it is estimated that at least 7,000 Americans die each year due to medication-related issues. Many of these are due to patients being provided the wrong drug or wrong dose by their pharmacist. Of course, the pharmaceutical industry and pharmacies themselves are strictly regulated by the United States government, but it is largely left to the individual pharmacist how they go about doing their job on a day-to-day basis. While some pharmacists certainly implement fail-safe protocols to ensure they are error-free, others are more fast and loose, creating an increased risk of a serious or fatal medication error.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the government body responsible for the oversight of pharmacies nationwide. According to one industry news source, the FDA has recently issued specific protocols for pharmacists and drug manufacturers to follow so that they can reduce the chance of causing a serious pharmacy error.

One of the issues the FDA sees as a major problem is the fact that many medications with vastly different purposes share similar names. This can lead to a situation in which a busy pharmacist inadvertently grabs the wrong medication and provides it to a patient. To help alleviate this, the FDA recommends that pharmacy staff should “write down the prescription and then read back the medication name, strength, dose, and frequency of administration for verification.”

Maker of Essure Birth Control Device Likely Facing Class Action Lawsuit in Canada

April 29, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Whenever a person is injured after using a dangerous product, they are able to file a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer, and potentially others in the chain of commerce who handled the item. In the case of dangerous medical products, sometimes there are many people who suffer the exact same or very similar injuries. In these cases, a class action lawsuit may be the best option for the injured patients.

Class Action Lawsuits in General

Generally speaking, class action lawsuits are beneficial for plaintiffs because they allow a large group of plaintiffs to argue their case together. Of course, this can save on legal costs, and it can also help the individual plaintiffs in their negotiations with the defendant manufacturer. However, class action lawsuits are not always appropriate.

One of the biggest hurdles to proceeding with a class action lawsuit is “certifying” the class. Before a class of plaintiffs can proceed against a defendant in a single case, the court must certify them as an official class. There are many requirements in order for a class to be certified, but one commonly argued issue is whether the injuries are similar.

Pharmacy Errors and the Elderly

April 15, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Whenever a patient is given the wrong prescription, or even the incorrect dose of a prescribed medication, the results can be devastating, depending on the medication provided as well as the individual patient. Children and the elderly are at a heightened risk for developing serious or fatal symptoms after a pharmacy error, so it is especially important that these individuals are hyper-vigilant when it comes to double-checking their pharmacist’s work.

Anyone who has been to a pharmacy recently likely agrees that pharmacists are busy people. They are often responsible for hundreds – if not thousands – of prescriptions each day, often involving similarly named medications prescribed for drastically different ailments. It is only natural that every now and again a pharmacist will mix up two patients’ medications, or inadvertently grab the wrong medication and provide it to the patient.

When these mistakes happen, most of the time they are caught before a serious injury results. However, elderly patients with many prescriptions may forget to double-check the medication prior to taking it. If a serious injury occurs as a result, the pharmacy where the prescription was filled may be held liable in a Maryland pharmacy error lawsuit. Of course, pharmacists don’t make these mistakes on purpose, but when an oversight is made, it is the patient who pays the price.

Pharmacy Errors Due to Incorrect Packaging of Prescription Drugs

April 8, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While many pharmacy errors are the result of an overworked or distracted pharmacist who provides the patient with the incorrect drug, there are a certain number of errors made each year due to prescription drugs being mis-labeled or mis-packaged by the drug’s manufacturer. In these cases, it is likely that the pharmacist on duty double-checked the prescription and provided the patient what he or she thought to be the correct medication, but due to a mistake that occurred before the pharmacist ever had control of the medication, the patient was provided with the wrong medication.

Of course, drug manufacturers have a duty to properly package their products, as well as to include all relevant and necessary warnings on the packaging. When a drug leaves the manufacturer’s control with incorrect labeling, there is often little other parties can do to catch and fix the error. There are some circumstances, however, in which such an error will not likely excuse the pharmacist, and these are when the pharmacist has the occasion to see the unpackaged medication or is otherwise made aware of the error.

Not all packaging errors result in the patient being provided the wrong medication entirely. In fact, according to one recent news report, mis-packaged birth control medication resulted in over 100 unplanned pregnancies. According to one news source reporting on the 2011 recall, the order of the pills was reversed in the packaging. This resulted in a much higher chance of pregnancy.

What to Do if the Pharmacist Gives You the Wrong Medication

March 1, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Ideally, pharmacists would always provide their patients with the correct medication and dosing instructions. However, that is not the reality we live in. It seems as though each week several new reports of prescription errors arise, some with serious or fatal consequences. While the duty to prevent these errors lies with the pharmacist, there are some steps that can be taken to help reduce the frequency of pharmacy errors. In addition, there are also steps that should be taken once a prescription error is noticed.

According to a recent report, there are over 100,000 deaths each year from adverse drug interactions. Many of these are the result of a pharmacy error. In fact, it is estimated that each year, there are about 7,000 preventable fatalities due to mistakes made in a pharmacy setting. Pharmacists and the pharmacies that employ them may be held accountable for their mistakes through civil lawsuits based on the legal theory of negligence. However, how a victim of a prescription error handles the moments after discovering an error may affect the viability of any personal injury claim in the future. Thus, it is important that certain steps be taken after noticing that you have been provided the wrong medication by a pharmacist.

What to Do in the Wake of a Prescription Error

First, and most importantly, seek out medical treatment immediately. While some pharmacy errors are relatively benign, others can be fatal, depending on the patient as well as the medication. Patients should not attempt to treat themselves and should let a medical professional assess the situation.