As patients, we place a great deal of trust in our pharmacies to ensure that our prescriptions are filled correctly. Unfortunately, a devastating 400,000 injuries occur in hospitals each year as the result of medication and pharmacy errors due to pharmacist negligence.
The consequences of taking the wrong medication, or taking the wrong dosage, can be devastating and will ultimately make patients more sick, not healthier. Common examples of medication errors include: the failure to fill the prescription with the correct medicine, filling the prescription with the correct medicine but in the wrong dosage, and giving a patient another person’s prescription. Other categories of damages that occur to people who are victims of pharmacy errors include medical expenses, physical therapy, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity. Sadly, in some circumstances, a medication error or pharmacy misfills can result in the patient’s wrongful death.
Many prescription errors and misfills happen when pharmacists fail to adhere to specific rules governing the filling and verification of prescriptions. Corporate employers frequently require pharmacy personnel to fill a certain quota of prescriptions each day, which results in many pharmacists working too quickly. Essentially, the quantity of prescriptions filled is emphasized over the quality of the prescriptions provided. Additionally, there are a number of people involved in the prescription filling process, including pharmacists, pharmacy clerks, pharmacy technicians, and other staff. This creates multiple instances during which errors can occur.
In order to recover damages from a pharmacy error or misfill, the victim must show that the pharmacist acted negligently and failed to meet their required duty of care.
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury as the result of a medication error or pharmacy mistake, Parvey and Cavenago can help.
