Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog
Pharmacists are now arguing in their own professional journal that dispensing errors at outpatient pharmacies need better data and more transparency. A commentary published online September 22, 2026, in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association describes a policy adopted by the American Public Health Association. The policy treats dispensing safety as a public health issue. Its three parts are improved data collection and transparency, a stronger culture of safety, and enhanced external accountability.
Maryland’s pharmacy error reporting rules are internal. Every pharmacy must investigate and record each medication error, and the same regulation keeps that record out of civil cases. A Maryland pharmacy error claim therefore has to be proved with other evidence.
That evidence exists, and much of it starts in the patient’s hands. Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers handles Maryland pharmacy error claims, which are built from the bottle, the label, the prescription, and the patient’s medical records.
What Maryland Requires a Pharmacy to Record
COMAR 10.34.26.04 requires every pharmacy permit holder to maintain an ongoing quality assurance program that identifies, investigates, and promotes the prevention of medication errors. A medication error, under the chapter’s definitions, is 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. For each one, the program’s records must include four things:
- The date: when the error occurred.
- A description: a brief account of the error.
- The investigation: the results of the program’s evaluation.
- The response: the remedial action taken or recommended.
The pharmacy must analyze those records at least every three months and keep them for two years. Nothing in the chapter requires a pharmacy to send them to the Board of Pharmacy or to publish a count.
Why the Record Stays Out of a Lawsuit
The regulation states that the proceedings, records, and files of a quality assurance program that meets its requirements “are not discoverable and are not admissible in evidence in any civil action.” That protection comes from Md. Code, Health Occ. § 1-401. The statute treats a committee or individual designated by a pharmacy permit holder to carry out the program as a medical review committee.
The privilege has a limit that helps patients. Under § 1-401(e), it does not reach any record or document that the committee considered and that would otherwise be subject to discovery and introduction into evidence in a civil trial. The original prescription, the pharmacy’s dispensing record, and the label generally fall on that side of the line. They exist whether or not anyone reviews the error afterward.
How to Report a Pharmacy Error in Maryland and What to Keep
If you were given the wrong drug or the wrong strength, keep the bottle, the label, the remaining medication, the receipt, and any printed information that came with it. Photograph the pills beside the label before anything goes back to the pharmacy. Your prescriber’s office can provide the prescription as it was written. Your own medical records document what the error did to you.
Maryland requires pharmacies to tell patients how to report a suspected error. Under COMAR 10.34.26.02, the information a pharmacy gives its patients must include the procedure for reporting a suspected medication error to the pharmacy. It must also explain how to report one to the Maryland Board of Pharmacy, which accepts written complaints. A Board complaint is a regulatory matter that is separate from a civil claim, and filing one does not stop the clock on a lawsuit.
An error inside a hospital pharmacy is handled differently. It is a claim against the hospital, which Maryland’s malpractice statute counts as a health care provider, and it follows the procedure for Maryland medical malpractice claims.
We represent patients and families harmed by pharmacy errors throughout Maryland. The pharmacy’s internal review is closed to the people it concerns, so our attorneys build these claims from the outside in. We start with the prescription, the label, and the medication, and we work with qualified pharmacists and physicians to show what should have been dispensed and what the mistake caused. A person who receives the wrong medication may never be told what the pharmacy’s own review found. We explain where a claim stands at no cost, and we are paid only if we recover.
If a Pharmacy Gave You the Wrong Medication
The proof in a pharmacy error claim is the medication, the label, and the records around them, and they are easiest to gather in the first days. Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers represents patients across Maryland, including Baltimore and the surrounding counties. We are glad to talk it through with you. Call (800) 654-1949 or contact our office, and the case evaluation is free.