When Medication Errors Occur, We Seek Full Compensation on Behalf of Our Clients for All Damages Suffered
Prescription medications and recommended over-the-counter medications are supposed to help heal us and resolve our ailments. When, instead of making us better, prescriptions cause us further harm, it can be physically painful and emotionally upsetting. Prescription injuries are especially appalling when they result from the negligence of prescribing doctors or pharmacies filling prescriptions. If you or a loved one has been a victim of this kind of negligence in Phoenix, Arizona, contact the medication error lawyers at Begam Marks & Traulsen, P.A. today.
Medication and Prescription Errors Caused by Negligence
Physicians and pharmacists have a responsibility under the law to act reasonably and prudently, in accordance with generally accepted medical standards, when assisting patients. Doctors and pharmacists must follow proper procedures to ensure that the correct drug is prescribed, that the prescription is filled properly, and that the patient is not receiving dangerously conflicting drugs.
If these professionals fail to do so, they may be guilty of negligence and held liable for any resulting injuries in a malpractice suit. We are available to represent clients in prescription malpractice suits, which may arise out of the following types of negligence:
- Improperly labeling prescriptions
- Filling the prescription incorrectly
- Prescribing or supplying the wrong dosage
- Prescribing an incorrect medication
- Failing to account for potential drug interactions
- Prescribing or filling a medication that is dangerous because of a patient’s condition
- Failing to consider drug allergies
Prescription Error Statistics
Dangerous drug combinations are a major public health problem, and they send many thousands of patients to the hospital each year. The role of pharmacists as the last line of defense against this problem is growing as Americans use more prescription drugs than ever.
Today, 10% of Americans take more than five prescription medicines, which is double the rate only 20 years ago. While some pharmacists do appropriately warn of the dangers of taking the two medications together, many others do not.
In a study by Chicago Tribune newspaper, which aimed to test 255 pharmacies to see how often they dispensed dangerous drug pairs without warning patients, found pharmacists dispensed pairs of drugs that could trigger a stroke, result in kidney failure, deprive the body of oxygen or lead to unexpected pregnancy with a risk of birth defects.
More than half of these pharmacies, 52%, sold the medications without mentioning the potentially serious interaction. This is striking evidence of an industrywide failure that places millions of consumers at risk. The study, which took place over the course of two years, exposes the systemic flaws in our pharmacy industry as fundamental safety rules are not being followed, computer alert systems designed to flag drug interactions either don’t work or are ignored, and some pharmacies emphasize fast service over patient safety.
Interestingly, the location of the pharmacy did not matter as failures happened in all kinds of neighborhoods.
What You Can Do to Avoid Prescription Errors
It is important as a medical consumer that patients inform all of their physicians of all of their medications so that each prescriber is aware of potential interactions. It is also helpful if patients fill all of their prescriptions at the same chain, so that there is one computer system to monitor drug interactions. But ultimately, it is important for patients to ask questions when they pick up their prescriptions in order to keep themselves safe.
Defective and Dangerous Medications
If you were injured because of a medication that was defectively manufactured, we can also help. Not only can medications be dangerous due to being defectively manufactured, medications manufactured correctly can prove to be highly dangerous, and in some cases, fatal.
If you believe that you or a loved one was injured due to a dangerous or defective medication, please call us to learn how we can help.