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.