Common and Preventable Medication Errors

According to a study by Johns Hopkins University, more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error. This makes it the third leading cause of death in the United States. Further, approximately seven million patients are affected by preventable medication errors each year, with a cost of nearly $21 billion annually.

Medication errors can fall under the category of medical malpractice and cause a patient to suffer serious injury, complications, or even death. Our Maryland malpractice attorneys can help you understand what happened and find out who was responsible.

What are medication errors?

According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, a medication error is:

“any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use.”

As you can see, medication errors can happen anywhere from the labeling and packaging all the way to administering the medicine.

A patient can experience a medication error and, subsequently, an injury, in many different ways due to a health care professional’s negligence. Following are just a few examples:

• Administering the wrong dosage of medication
• Administering the incorrect medication
• Failing to give a medication dose on time
• Improper administration technique (such as administering a medication intravenously instead of orally)
• Failing to account for other medications a patient is taking (causing adverse interactions)
• Physician’s lack of knowledge about medication being prescribed (side effects, etc.)
• Failing to account for a patient’s medical history (tolerance of side effects, allergies, etc.)
• Confusing one medication for another with a similar name

Causes of medication errors

When a medication causes a patient harm, it’s called an adverse effect. Many adverse effects from medication happen from preventable errors. The majority of these mistakes occur in hospitals, doctors’ offices, and pharmacies. Common causes of medication errors include:

• Miscommunication between health care workers
• Sound-alike medications and look-alike abbreviations
• Poor or illegible handwriting on prescriptions
• Confusing or misleading directions for taking/administering the medication
• Distracted or overworked staff who may read a label wrong or forget an hourly dosage
• Systemic problems like medications improperly labeled, insufficient bar coding system, similarly named medications stored too closely to each other, etc.

If you believe a medication error has caused you harm, speak to a medical malpractice lawyer at Plaxen Adler Muncy, P.A. to find out if you have a case. Our Maryland attorneys will investigate thoroughly to find out exactly what transpired and who is responsible for your injuries. You should never feel unsafe in a medical setting. Let us help. To learn more, or to schedule a free consultation, please call 410-730-7737 or fill out our contact form.