Medical Malpractice and Prescription Malpractice

The scope of prescription malpractice can encompass more than one area of personal injury law. One type of case where a prescription malpractice lawsuit may occur is the unfortunately all-too-common incident where an incorrect medication is administered to a patient resulting in irreversible injury or wrongful death. The reasons this error happens include the fact that many medications have names that sound very similar, and that labels on mediation bottles are not large or clear enough to be easily read.

A variant of this scenario happens when the correct medication is given, however, it was dispensed in an unsafe dosage, via the wrong route in, or on the body, or in an unsafe frequency. In all of these situations, professional medical personnel such as the nurse, nurse practitioner, and/or the attending physician, physician assistant, and/or the medical facility, and the pharmacy would be the parties involved in a resulting medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a medical malpractice attorney.

On a much larger scale, a medical malpractice attorney (also called a “prescription malpractice attorney”) deals directly with the Pharmaceutical manufacturers and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in another type of prescription malpractice legal action.

This article will focus more on this second type. In this sort of case, a patient is harmed or killed by a drug despite the fact that the drug was approved by the FDA after their declared review of data gleaned from thousands of patients involved in hundreds of national and international clinical trials.

Unfortunately, the data that the FDA reviews for approval can be incomplete at best and purposefully manipulated with dangerous data omitted at worst. One of the most egregious examples of this is with the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx which was permanently recalled due to it’s putting users at risk for heart attack. A whistle blower for the Pharmaceutical Giant who manufactured the drug later reveled that data about the heart attacks had been know long before the drugs approval and had been hidden from the FDA.

Many hundreds of patients are victims of errors from prescription medication mistakes and from dangerous prescription drugs. Protect yourself and your loved ones by being proactive: When a nurse brings medication, don’t just take it without asking what it is, and what it is for. Always speak to a pharmacist when picking up a new prescription. Ask about interactions with other medications, don’t take it for granted that the computer has checked for and caught all possible contraindications. Know what the possible serious side effects are for a new drug, and be aware of your body after taking your first dose. Above all else, trust your gut instincts, if you feel like something is wrong, don’t ignore it; contact your health care provider right away.

In the event of serious injury or death as a result of the negligence of a health care professional, be certain to locate an experienced medical malpractice attorney who specializes in prescription malpractice to represent you.

R. Klettke is a freelance writer. He writes about personal injury and medical malpractice law and other matters of jurisprudence.

Note: This article is not intended to provide legal advice upon which you should rely in making any decisions regarding the instituting or prosecuting of a legal claim. Laws and rules relating to the bringing of a claim vary widely from state to state. You should always contact a personal injury attorney to obtain information as to the rules and the laws pertaining to any claim you might have.

Prescription Malpractice and Medication Errors

In the coming year, it is estimated that at least half a million patients in the United States alone will be harmed in some way by a medical prescription error committed by their pharmacist, physician, or hospital and nursing home staff.

While these errors are often referred to as “prescription malpractice”, they fall under the laws of medical malpractice, with lawsuits being brought against the perpetrators by personal injury attorneys who specialize in handling prescription malpractice cases. These personal injury attorneys are referred to many different ways including “medical malpractice attorneys” or even “prescription malpractice attorneys”.

Just some of the injuries resulting from prescription malpractice can include: severe allergic reactions, a worsening course of illness, organ impairment or failure, emotional and mental impairment, and sudden death.

Sadly, many of these tragic outcomes are avoidable when strict written polices and protocols are in place, and staff consistently adheres to those standards.

Healthcare professionals can prevent medication errors and prescription malpractice by following what is known as the “Five Rights” each and every time medication is administered to a patient. With the five rights, the healthcare professional must check to see if the following five things are right. Is it…

The right medication?

Many medications have very similar sounding and similarly spelled names.

In addition, the print on very small vials of medication may be difficult to read.

The right patient?

The patient should be asked to identify their name and date of birth. The patient’s wristband should be checked as well.

The right dose?

An incorrect dosage of certain drugs which is increased by even the smallest amount can be deadly.

The right time?

Some medications must be given at exact intervals to be successful in treating an illness. Medications given off schedule could affect the results of diagnostic tests, leading to misdiagnosis and mistreatment.

The right route?

The staff member must be sure to give the medication in the proper manner so that it is delivered into the body in the most efficacious way for that particular patient, and their individual health history and illness.

Ideally, all five of these rights should be checked twice by the first staff member, and a third time by another qualified staff member in addition to the person actually administering the medication.

If you have suffered as a victim of a prescription medication error caused by a healthcare provider’s negligence or recklessness, you have the legal right to contact a medical malpractice attorney in order to file a prescription malpractice claim. Parties who could be held liable include not only nurses and physicians, but also facilities and drug companies.

R. Klettke is a freelance writer. He writes about personal injury and medical malpractice law and other matters of jurisprudence.

Important Advisory: This article is not intended to provide legal advice upon which you or anyone else should rely in making any decisions regarding the instituting or prosecuting of a legal claim. Laws and rules relating to the bringing of a claim vary widely from state to state. You should always contact a personal injury attorney to obtain information as to the rules and the laws pertaining to any claim you might have.

Prescription Malpractice and the Law

A patient places trust in doctors, pharmacists and manufacturers when he or she uses a pharmaceutical or medical device. But the widespread incidence of prescription malpractice shows we aren’t always getting the best medicine – and that legal action may be necessary in order to obtain compensation for injuries.

It’s unfortunate that a medical malpractice attorney would need to get involved in your prescription medications. But malpractice with pharmaceuticals and medical devices – by medical doctors, pharmacists, administrators, nursing staff and manufacturers – can cause serious injury and death. Further, manufacturers of drugs have had massive recalls in recent years due to adverse effects being discovered after widespread patient use and injury.

At least 400,000 patients are harmed by prescription malpractice every year in the U.S., some of them fatally.

A significant degree of healthcare is delivered through medical prescriptions, causing pharmaceutical malpractice to be far too common. Here are some of the ways in which prescription malpractice frequently occurs:

Physicians prescribe medications that injuriously interact with other medications the patient is already taking.
The doctor’s instructions to the pharmacist were misread or misinterpreted, leading to the wrong medication being prescribed or an incorrect dosage.
A nurse administers medications incorrectly or according to flawed instructions in in-patient settings.
A mistake in manufacturing resulted in a defective product.
Side effects are not disclosed by the pharmaceutical company.
The drug manufacturer was given approval to market the drug but adequate testing was not conducted or findings were misrepresented.

Important to note, however, is the fact that not all unfavorable medical outcomes are due to errors in pharmaceuticals or other interventions (therapy, medical devices, etc.). A prescription malpractice attorney (a medical malpractice attorney who specializes in prescription malpractice) must prove the following:

Did the patient’s condition deteriorate following treatment?
Do new symptoms correlate with known effects of the medication in question?
Can the physician provide a plausible alternative explanation for the patient’s worsened health?

Who is responsible in prescription malpractice cases?

In several widely reported cases (Fen-Phen, Rezulin, Baycol and others) in recent years, drug manufacturers have been shown to hide key facts about a medication’s side effects or exaggerated its efficacy. Economic pressures to bring medications to market and expand their use are believed to be responsible for this spate of medication malpractice injuries.

But even with prescription drugs that are proven effective and safe under proper conditions, several participants in healthcare delivery can still be negligent or reckless in the administration of medicine and medical devices:

Prescribing physicians
Pharmacists
Hospital and nursing home administrators
Therapists
Nurses

As with any form of medical malpractice, it is important for patients and their families who intend to file claims to collect all medical records and to establish a written record of conversations they had with medical professionals. Share this with your prescription malpractice attorney as you consider your options for seeking fair and just compensation.

R. Klettke is a freelance writer. He writes about personal injury and medical malpractice law and other matters of jurisprudence.

Important Advisory: This article is not intended to provide legal advice upon which you or anyone else should rely in making any decisions regarding the instituting or prosecuting of a legal claim. Laws and rules relating to the bringing of a claim vary widely from state to state. You should always contact a personal injury attorney to obtain information as to the rules and the laws pertaining to any claim you might have.