When you visit a healthcare professional, you have confidence in their ability to treat you quickly and effectively. After all, they had to complete extensive schooling and training to practice. However, doctors and nurses can make medication errors at the expense of you or your loved one. If you’re the victim of a prescription mistake, you may not know that you’re entitled to compensation for your injuries. Contacting a Houston, Texas medication error lawyer can help you get the reparations you deserve.
How Do Medication Errors Occur?
When seen and diagnosed by a doctor, you trust that the prescription they provide will help treat your condition and is for the correct medicine and dosage. However, this is not always the case, as negligence can occur. Possible occurrences of prescription errors happen due to the following:
- Illegible handwriting when writing a prescription
- Writing the wrong medication for a prescription
- Failure to take into account other prescription medications the patient is on
- Overlooking medication allergies
- Prescribing the wrong dosage, making the medicine ineffective, or causing an overdose to occur
- Administering the medication at the wrong time
- Orally transmitting a prescription, which can lead to misheard drug names
Medication errors can also occur at the hands of the pharmacist responsible for fulfilling the prescription, referred to as dispensing errors.
What Kind of Injuries Can Result?
When taking the incorrect medication or the wrong dosage of the right medicine, you’ll find that it can cause serious harm to your body.
If you were prescribed a medication containing an allergen that is clearly noted on your medical record, you will suffer an allergic reaction. For some, this can be limited to a mild rash or hives, while others may enter anaphylaxis from consuming the medicine. This reaction can lead to serious injuries and, in some cases, can result in death.
Another side effect of taking the wrong medication is organ failure. Primarily, this will lead to kidney or liver failure, as these are the main organs responsible for eliminating waste.
Incorrect dosage can be harsh on the body, causing it to shut down. This leads to shock and oxygen deprivation, resulting in a lack of blood flow to the brain. Subsequently, this can prompt permanent brain damage. Extended periods of time with no blood flow can result in comas, seizures, and death.
Am I Entitled to Compensation?
As doctors take an oath to ensure they’ll treat their patients with the utmost care, prescription medication errors often occur as a direct result of negligence. Prescription errors are almost always avoidable, meaning you will likely have a case against the doctor or healthcare provider responsible for the incorrect prescription.
If you believe you are the victim of a medical error, you’ll want to ensure you save the prescription bottles and receipts from the pharmacy. These can help prove your case in a court of law. You will also want to ensure you file your claim before the statute of limitations for mediation errors expires, which is two years from the date of the incident.
If you’re trying to determine whether or not you have a case, contact us today for a free consultation. We can help guide you in the right direction to ensure you get the justice you deserve for injuries suffered at the hands of a healthcare provider.