Hospital Medication Mistakes

Injuries caused by hospital medication mistakes have increased substantially over the past decade, and many of these unfortunate errors may have been avoided with proper care, training and supervision.  Just like doctors can make a medical mistake by failing to exercise reasonable care, nurses and hospital workers can also make mistakes when administering prescription medications to hospital patients.

According to the National Academies of Science’s Institute of Medicine, about 1.5 million Americans are injured each year by medication mistakes.  Serious and potentially fatal complications can result when a hospital administers the wrong medication or dose of a drug.  A medication errors could result from the pharmacy failing to properly label or store the drugs, the nurse failing to double check the medication they are administering or by the doctors failing to take the time to fill out the orders or prescriptions clearly.

Serious injuries and deaths reported to the FDA as a result of medication mistakes nearly tripled between 1998 and 2005.  The number of reported injuries increased from about 35,000 to 90,000 and the number of prescription error deaths rose from around 5,000 to more than 15,000.

The recent case of a hospital medication error involving actor Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins has brought a lot of public attention to this problem recently.  A Los Angelos hospital acknowledged that the actor’s children were given a dose blood thinner which was 1,000 times greater than the prescribed amount.

PRESCRIPTION MISTAKE LAWSUITS

The medical malpractice lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. investigate potential claims nationwide for hospital medication mistakes which result in serious injury or death.  Prescription drugs require extra care in prescribing and dosing.  If a mistake is made, the body could suffer a severe adverse reaction.

Doctors, nurses and hospitals are trusted to provide the proper level of care and when a careless, preventable error results in an injury, they should be held accountable.  If you, a friend or family member suffered an injury as a result of a hospital medication mistake, request a free consultation.