When Pharmacy Errors Result in Death of a Loved One

Over 7,000 deaths happen each year in the United States due to approximately 30 million pharmacy dispensing errors that occur when filling a doctor’s prescription. According to the National Patient Safety Foundation, one in 1,000 prescriptions that are delivered to consumers contain an error. These mistakes have the capability of causing severe injuries and in many cases, even death.

Recently a $450,000 settlement was reached for a child that was prescribed anti-seizure medication by his doctor. While the prescription was safe, the pharmacy that filled the prescription prescribed ten times the actual prescribed amount of medication to the child, which resulted in permanent brain injury.

These types of injuries occur more often than they should, and if you or your loved ones have been affected by a pharmacy error that has resulted in serious injury, you should talk to a Virginia or Washington DC brain injury attorney to make sure that your family is compensated.

Most common types of pharmacy errors

• Dispensing an incorrect dosage
• Dispensing a wrong medication
• Not giving proper instructions on ingesting prescribed medication to the patient

These types of errors usually occur because pharmacy technicians have a high workload and thus have less time to fill each prescription. With the demands of the job, many pharmacy technicians are overworked and mistakes occur, causing irreversible consequences. If you or your family has experienced a serious injury due to a pharmacy error, contact a Washington DC or Virginia brain injury lawyer to see if you may have a claim against the pharmacy.

Errors in intravenous drugs used by hospital patients

Intravenous solutions that are prepared for hospital patients are also dispensed by pharmacies. These may contain the wrong drug or dosage as well. This may stem from a mistake done by a pharmacy technician or by a hospital nurse that enters the data incorrectly into a computer that is used to administer the intravenous solutions to patients. Regardless of how the mistake is made, it can result in severe injury or death to the patient. In these types of situations, a Virginia or Washington DC brain injury attorney should be contacted to assess whether compensation is available in your case. A Washington DC or Virginia brain injury lawyer is your best option for getting back all that you have lost due to someone else’s mistake.