Regardless of whether you’re at the hospital for an appointment or an invasive surgery, you should have full confidence that you’re in the capable hands of medical professionals who know what they’re doing.
However, when a medical professional makes a mistake, it has the potential to lead to harmful, devastating, or even fatal consequences. Something patients experience all too often is medication dispensing errors. A medication dispensing error is what happens when a hospital staff member gives the patient the wrong prescription medication, forgets to give the patient their required prescription medication, or provides the wrong dosage of medication.
Medical malpractice cases can arise from medication dispensing errors as they can lead to grave consequences, especially if a patient is given contraindicated medication. A contraindication is an indication that a specific drug should not be administered to a patient due to an allergy, current condition, or some other reason.
Proving Medical Malpractice Occurred
Medication dispensing errors, no matter their circumstances, typically boil down to one cause: negligence. When a doctor, nurse, or other hospital staff member makes a mistake with your medication, they acted negligently and need to be held accountable for their actions.
To prove you have a case for medical malpractice, you will want to work with an experienced lawyer who will be able to establish the following elements:
- The doctor, nurse, or other professional owed you a medical standard of care
- The professional in question committed negligence and failed to meet the standard of care owed to you
- The medical professional’s negligence caused your injury (or the death of a loved one)
- The injury resulted in damages that are both covered by the law and can be claimed in court
Our firm has extensive experience in handling cases involving medication dispensing errors. We’ve seen first-hand the damage that can arise from medication errors and know that the error can severely impact a person’s life.
When our medical malpractice lawyers are handling a medication error case, we turn to our vast network of resources and medical experts who can provide insight into the cause of a medication error. When our team determines that negligence occurred and the cause of a medication error, we will seek maximum recovery on behalf of the victim.
Medication errors are preventable mistakes and yet are a leading cause of death and injury in the country. The damages that can be won in a medication error case can go a long way in helping a victim recover from the losses they have sustained as a result of the negligence.
Common Medication Dispensing Errors
Here are some common examples of hospital staff medication dispensing errors our Florida medical malpractice lawyers have seen:
- Providing either too low or too high of a dosage
- Confusing one patient’s prescription with another patient’s prescription
- Prescribing a medication that fails to take into account other underlying medical conditions
- Dispensing the wrong medication due to misreading the doctor’s handwriting
- Providing medication that contains ingredients the patient is allergic to
- Providing incorrect or inadequate instructions for medication
- Instructing a patient to take medication that is contraindicated with other medications the patient is already taking
- Poor communication between different hospital staff members leading to an error in medication or dosage
- Prescribing an ineffective medication that actually causes the patient’s condition to worsen over time
- Failing to provide adequate warnings of potential risks and side effects which in turn leads to the patient not providing informed consent
As you can see, there are many different ways a medical professional can make a medication dispensing error. Often, these errors are coupled with other errors the hospital staff has made. For example, if you were misdiagnosed, you might be prescribed a medication that treats the incorrect would-be diagnosis but fails to treat the real condition that was missed.
Speak with an Experienced Florida Medication Errors Lawyers Today
If you or a loved one suffered due to a medication dispensing error made by a hospital staff member, do not hesitate to contact our firm as soon as possible. As dedicated victim advocates, we will conduct a thorough review of your situation, investigate the cause of the medication error, and build your case.
With a long history of supporting victims of medical malpractice, you can rest assured knowing your case is in the capable hands of people who believe you deserve justice. Call our office today at (561) 655-1990 or send us a message online to schedule your risk-free case evaluation.
No matter where you are, one of our offices can help.
