Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

Pharmacies and pharmacists play a critical role in the stream of efficient healthcare in the United States. While advances in clinical therapies have resulted in life-saving measures for many people, pharmacies have become inundated with patients. As a result, Maryland pharmacies are more prone to engaging in medication errors. Medication errors are any error that occurs at any step along a patient’s healthcare treatment plan. These errors can occur when a clinician prescribes a medication to when the patient receives a refill. If a patient experiences an adverse drug event because of a medication error, they may recover damages from any negligent healthcare providers responsible for the error.

Adverse drugs events are a common yet preventable healthcare event. The Patient Safety Network (PSN) reports that healthcare providers have access to over 10,000 prescription medications, and almost one-third of American adults take five or more medications. Moreover, every year, adverse drug events make up approximately 700,000 emergency room visits. These errors occur to every type of patient, including those receiving care and treatment in the hospital.

Some groups of people are more vulnerable to medication errors. These groups include older adults, especially those who take several medications. Further, pediatric patients often experience medication errors because clinicians may fail to account for the patient’s stature before dispensing medications. Moreover, another notable factor is a patient’s socioeconomic status and literacy.

Medical errors can occur at any time—but a recent study raises the issue of whether patients in Maryland are at greater risk for Maryland medical errors on weekends than during the week. The study looked at all medication errors reported by healthcare practitioners over a two-year period at one hospital. There were 2,626 medical errors reported during the two-year period that that hospital alone. The most common sub-category of medical errors was prescribing errors, which amounted to 55% of all medical errors.

The study found statistically significant differences between many sub-categories of medical errors in day shifts and night shifts during weekdays and weekends. The medical errors were higher during the weekdays than during the weekends. But during the weekends, medical errors during the night shifts were more common than during the day shifts. The highest percentage of prescribing errors occurred on weekdays during night shifts (amounting to 77% and 79% of all errors). The study noted that other studies had found higher rates of medical errors during night shifts.

The study’s findings demonstrate that timing is an important factor in improving the use of medication and enhancing patient safety. The study reiterated that medication errors “are a serious public health problem that threatens patient safety and imposes substantial costs.” Medication errors are defined by the U.S. National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Preventing as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer.”

While many doctors and pharmacists work tirelessly to avoid pharmacy errors, unfortunately, errors still occur—sometimes, with devastating effects for patients. If a patient suffers injuries due to a Maryland pharmacy error, the patient may be able to seek financial compensation through a negligence claim.

In a negligence claim, a plaintiff must show that the defendant had a duty of care toward the plaintiff, the defendant failed to meet that duty by acting or failing to act in some way, the defendant’s lack of care caused the plaintiff’s damages, and the plaintiff suffered damages.

Causation is an essential element of any Maryland pharmacy error claim. Establishing the element of causation means showing that a defendant’s wrongful conduct was a “cause-in-fact” and a legally cognizable cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. This means that a plaintiff has to show that the defendant’s actions were an actual cause of the plaintiff’s injuries and that they were reasonably foreseeable and expected so that the defendant should be held liable. A defendant’s conduct may not be a legally cognizable cause of the plaintiff’s injuries if the resulting injuries were not an expected or reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s conduct.

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