Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

Recent Pharmacy Error Causes Patient “Horrendous” Symptoms

February 1, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription drugs are controlled by the government for good reason. For many drugs, it is because the active substance contained in the drug that can help cure a patient’s ailment may have a dangerous interaction when taken with a common medication. Other medications are controlled due to their sensitive dosage instructions, potential for abuse and addiction, or nasty side effects.

It doesn’t come as a surprise, then, that patients can suffer serious injuries or even death following a Maryland pharmacy error. In such cases, the patient may be able to obtain compensation for their injuries through a Maryland pharmacy error lawsuit. These lawsuits are often complex, and more often than not they rely on expert witness testimony to establish liability. The most common topic on which experts are needed is establishing that the plaintiff’s injury was related to their ingestion of the mis-filled medication.

According to a recent news report, one man became seriously ill after being provided the wrong medication by the local pharmacy where he had refilled his prescriptions for the past 14 years. Evidently, the man’s physician had written him a prescription to help with his insomnia, but the man was given another drug that is used to treat high blood pressure. The two medications have similar names.

Major U.S. City Takes Steps to Reduce Pharmacy Errors

January 22, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland medical errors – including misfilled prescriptions – are one of the leading causes of death in the state and across the country. Indeed, a 2016 study by Johns Hopkins concluded that, if properly tracked, medical errors would be the third-leading cause of death in the United States. However, due to the fact that the law allows for voluntary reporting of most errors, many Maryland pharmacy errors go unreported.

According to a recent industry news report, Chicago is taking affirmative steps to combat the growing number of pharmacy errors. The city’s actions follow a report by a local paper indicating that of the 25 pharmacies surveyed, over 50% committed at least one error. The city’s attempts are premised on the longstanding and verified belief that the more prescriptions a pharmacist fills per shift, the higher is the chance that the pharmacist will make a medication error in the type, dose, or administration of a drug.

In an attempt to reduce future errors, Chicago lawmakers have proposed a number of pharmacy regulations. For example, one proposed regulation limits the total number of prescriptions a pharmacist can fill by hour to 10. Another regulation requires that pharmacists who have been working in excess of eight hours notify patients as they fill their prescription. Lawmakers have also proposed that pharmacists be required to take one 30-minute lunch break and several 15-minute breaks per eight-hour shift.

Court Discusses Potential Scope of Liability Against Brand-Name Drug Manufacturer in Case Involving Generic Medication

January 15, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Under Maryland product liability law, the manufacturer of a product has a duty to ensure that the product does not present any unreasonable risk of harm to the consumer when the product is used for its intended purpose. Additionally, product liability law also generally applies a blanket of strict liability over all parties in the product’s chain of distribution. This means that any party in the chain of distribution may be liable for a plaintiff’s injuries caused by the product without a showing that the party was negligent.

When discussing the liability of a pharmaceutical manufacturer that allegedly created a dangerous drug, some specific rules apply. For example, in a recent case, the court discusses whether a brand-name manufacturer can be potentially liable in a case involving a plaintiff’s injuries that arose after consumption of a bioequivalent generic medication. Ultimately, the court concluded that the brand-name manufacturer could be held liable under the state’s product liability laws, and it dismissed the defendant manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiffs were two children born with serious developmental delays by the time they turned three, and they were later diagnosed with autism by the age of five. During delivery, the plaintiffs’ mother was given the generic equivalent of the medication Brethine to suppress premature delivery. The plaintiffs were born full-term but later experienced what they claim to be the side effects of the medication.

Court Affirms Verdict in Favor of Doctor After Child Experiences Developmental Delays

January 8, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription errors can have lasting effects for Maryland patients. In a recent case, the parents of a two-month-old child brought a lawsuit against a doctor, alleging that the doctor improperly treated their child with the drug Reglan.

According to the court’s opinion, the child was referred to the pediatric gastroenterologist doctor for gastrointestinal issues, and the doctor diagnosed him with severe gastroesophageal reflux disease. The doctor continued to see the child for about a year and a half, and he prescribed him different medications, including Reglan. Reglan is normally recommended for a maximum of 12 weeks, except in cases in which the benefits outweigh the risks. The doctor later testified that he believed the benefits outweighed the risks in this case, and he attempted to wean the child off the drug, but his symptoms would reappear when he did so.

About a year and a half after his diagnosis, the child’s mother began noticing problems with the child’s development, including standing, balancing, and developmental delays. After she heard about the side effects of Reglan on a commercial, she brought up her concerns to the child’s primary care doctor. The gastroenterologist doctor subsequently told the primary care doctor to stop the Reglan prescription, due to the mother’s concerns.

Experts Hope a Bottle’s Label Design Can Decrease Prescription Errors

January 2, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription medications are controlled by the government for good reason. Indeed, many prescription drugs are dangerous substances that are only approved for use under strict conditions for very specific applications. It may be that a prescription drug negatively interacts with other commonly consumed medications, or that the medication itself easily leads to dependency and addiction. The bottom line is that prescription medication can be dangerous, and pharmacists and manufacturers should take all steps necessary to prevent Maryland pharmacy errors.

One of the most important tools pharmacists can use to decrease the chance of a serious or fatal prescription error is to make sure that the label affixed to the prescription is correct and written in plain English so that the patient can understand the directions. According to a recent news report, experts have been studying the impact that label design has on a patient’s likelihood of experiencing an error. The study found that patients are experiencing errors even with properly filled medications due to confusing medication labels.

For example, the article discusses a situation in which a woman was prescribed a patch containing pain medication to help with her arthritis. The label indicated the woman should apply the patch when she feels pain, but it did not specify how many patches to use at one time. The woman’s family later discovered that she had been using the pain patches all over her body, effectively overdosing on the medication contained in the patch.

Recent Study Shows Hospital Pharmacy Errors Decrease with More Pharmacist Involvement

December 22, 2017 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While many Maryland pharmacy errors occur at the thousands of retail pharmacies across the state, a large portion of the state’s overall pharmacy errors still occur in medical settings, such as hospitals, rehab facilities, and nursing homes. In fact, according to a recent study, some hospital patients’ medical records reveal as many as seven pharmacy errors. Of course, while not all of these are clinically significant, the trend is still disturbing.

Due to the number of pharmacy errors across the nation, as well as the potential that these errors can result in serious injuries or death, researchers have undertaken renewed efforts to discover new methods to decrease the rate of pharmacy errors. One place researchers are focusing their efforts is on patients who take a large number of prescription medications, based on the assumption that this population is at the greatest risk of experiencing an error.

According to a recent study, when pharmacists, rather than medical staff, take a patient’s history, the number of errors in subsequent prescriptions is drastically reduced. The way that many hospitals operate is that the job of entering a patient’s history belongs to anyone who works with the patient. While this may sound effective in that numerous medical professionals are reviewing a patient’s history, the result is that no single person feels accountable. However, when a single pharmacist is given the task of entering a patient’s history, that pharmacist is the sole person accountable, and as a result, the instances of errors drastically decrease.

Court Finds Evidence Insufficient in Recent Pharmacy Error Case

December 15, 2017 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland pharmacy errors occur far more often than most believe. In fact, it is estimated that upwards of five percent of all prescriptions filled contain some error. Of course, most of these errors are caught before a patient ingests the medication. However, some Maryland pharmacy errors can cause serious side effects that may carry life-long consequences.

Earlier this month, an appellate court issued an opinion in a pharmacy error case requiring the court to determine if the plaintiff’s case was sufficient to survive a summary judgment challenge by the defendant pharmacy. After reviewing the evidence, the court concluded that since the plaintiff was unable to prove that the pharmacist or another employee failed to offer medication counseling at the time the prescription was picked up, the plaintiff’s case could not proceed toward trial.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiff suffered from several serious medical conditions and was prescribed medication by his physician. The plaintiff’s wife went to the defendant pharmacy to pick up her husband’s medication, and she was given a bag containing two bottles. She did not know it at the time, but the bottles did not have her husband’s name on them.

Plaintiff’s Case Against Pharmacy Dismissed Based on Late-Filed Notice of Expert Testimony

December 8, 2017 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, an appellate court in Utah issued a written opinion in a personal injury case presenting an issue that often arises in Maryland pharmacy error and medical malpractice cases. The issue was whether the plaintiff’s expert’s testimony should be excluded from evidence because it was late-filed, and if so, whether the plaintiff’s case should be dismissed for failing to present necessary evidence.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiff sued her pharmacy, claiming that it overprescribed drugs. However, at the time she filed the case, the plaintiff did not designate any expert who would be testifying in support of her case. It was not until the day of the summary judgment hearing that the plaintiff presented the court with the name and information of her expert witness.

Upon the defendant’s motion, the court precluded the plaintiff’s expert from testifying, finding that the expert’s information was provided well past the discovery deadline. After striking the plaintiff’s expert’s testimony, the court then determined that the plaintiff was unable to prove her claim against the pharmacy and dismissed the plaintiff’s claim.

As Online Retailer Enters Pharmaceutical Business, Some Are Advocating for Change

December 1, 2017 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The online retail giant Amazon recently announced that it would soon be entering the pharmacy business. With Amazon’s impressive delivery network, the company believes that it has a service to offer those who would otherwise need to travel to the nearest pharmacy to fill their prescription. Some believe that Amazon’s entrance into the pharmacy business may reduce the number of Maryland prescription errors.

Due to the volume of transactions that Amazon handles annually, some are seeing Amazon’s entrance into the pharmacy business as an opportunity for the industry to make major strides toward a safer process. The idea is that Amazon has the clout necessary to make pharmaceutical companies make changes to the way drugs are packaged and marketed.

According to a recent industry news report, the leading cause of pharmacy errors is inadvertence. Simply stated, most pharmacy errors are results of a busy pharmacist grabbing the wrong medication because its name or packaging is so similar to the medication the patient requires. And, according to the article, drug manufacturers have little reason to change because they are not normally held liable for errors. However, the article notes that as Amazon enters the business, the company may be able to use its influence to require manufacturers to make changes to the way companies package and market their drugs, potentially resulting in an overall decrease in the amount of pharmacy errors.

Pharmacist Trainees Admit to Frequently Making Errors

November 22, 2017 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As is the case with most professions, becoming a pharmacist involves not only getting an education but also obtaining the necessary hands-on experience. Of course, as medical professionals, pharmacists are responsible for the safety of their patients, and any Maryland pharmacy error made by a trainee can have potentially drastic consequences for a patient’s health. Thus, normally, pharmacists in training are closely supervised to ensure that any mistakes they make are caught and fixed before the prescription is passed on to the patient. However, providing this level of supervision is costly to pharmacists, and too often efficiency is favored over safety.

In a recent article discussing the high frequency of pharmacy errors and potential ways to cut back on the number of errors, it was suggested that pharmacists may make fewer mistakes once they are certified to work on their own if they are allowed to make mistakes in training. The proposition is not a surprising one, since it has often been said that “practice makes perfect.” However, in the context of the medical field, patients rightfully expect “perfect” performance when it comes to filling their prescriptions.

The article discusses one pharmacist’s experiences in training and proposes a method to ensure that pharmacists in training are able to make the mistakes they need to make and learn from them. For example, the pharmacist explained that he would have to fill 1,000 prescriptions in a row without an error before he could move on to his next exercise. If he made a single error anywhere along the way, he would start back at zero. He explained the frustrating in reaching 200 prescriptions several times, only to make a minor error.