Medication Errors – Medical Malpractice That Can Cost You Your Life

Medical Malpractice is, unfortunately, very common these days, with up to 400,000 people dying each year from people suffering a preventable medical harm.  There are different kinds of medical malpractice, including misdiagnosis, surgery mismanagement, birth injury, and medication errors.

Prescription medications can have significant benefits when they are prescribed and used appropriately.  However, when there is a prescription medication error, these medicines can inadvertently cause more serious medical complications, or sometimes even death.

Most medication errors are caused by simple human error – giving a patient the wrong dosage of anesthesia, not fully understanding a doctor’s handwriting, picking the wrong medication off of the shelf to fill a prescription, inadvertently prescribing a drug that will have a dangerous interaction with another drug a patient is currently taking, or even prescribing a patient medication that they have indicated they are allergic to.

A U.S. News study found that medication errors are the second most common type of medical malpractice, harming 1.5 million people every year, and costing at least $3.5 billion in extra medical costs to treat drug error-related injuries. And the Institute of Medicine reports that medication errors account for one out of every 131 outpatient and one out of every 854 inpatient deaths each year.

If you or a loved one has been severely injured or killed due to a medication error, it is important that you contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible.  A lawyer can review the facts surrounding your case, determine whether or not you have a medical malpractice claim, and help you decide who is responsible for the preventable injury or death.