According to information published in Drug Safety, harm from medication errors frequently occurs, and if your loved one has suffered as the victim of a medication-related error, it likely did not have to happen. Medical professionals such as those tasked with caring for your loved one must face unanticipated hurdles from time to time, but causing harm through something preventable such as a medication error may prove inexcusable.
If you have reason to believe that your loved one suffered ill effects from a medication error while living in a nursing home, call our team of Berwyn medication errors lawyers with Pintas & Mullins Law Firm for a free consultation.
Any Nursing Home Should Have Systems for Preventing Medication Errors
Looking after tens or hundreds of elderly residents who each have unique medical needs comes with its challenges, but nursing home administrators and caregivers agree to take on these responsibilities. The complexity of managing different residents’ regimens makes it all the more important to have effective, dynamic systems in place for managing medications and other aspects of care.
Nursing homes that do not have proper systems for preventing medication errors may:
- Lack an organized, comprehensive database that contains each patient’s medication schedule.
- Lack the necessary communication channels between nurses, doctors, and patients.
- Lack consistent policies regarding caregiver questions about a patient’s medication schedule or what to do in the case that a medication error does occur.
Such disorganization leads to consequences, and, ultimately, patients such as your loved one pay the cost for weak, or nonexistent, systems and policies.
Poor Medication-Related Practices Can Easily Lead to Error
When there is any ambiguity in how a nursing home prescribes, orders, organizes, and administers medication to your loved one, there is a high risk for error. A paper in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine
(QJM) details some of the common ways that medication-related errors can happen, including:
- Prescribing an inappropriate, potentially harmful medication for your loved one due to a misdiagnosis.
- Failing to ensure that your loved one has no allergies or potential complications to the prescribed medication.
- Writing a prescription incorrectly, which could include mislabeling the name of the medication, the dosage amount, or any other important information.
- Prescribing a quantity of medication that proves too strong or weak.
- Failing to administer the medication in the prescribed dosage at the proper time intervals.
- Giving your loved one the incorrect medication.
- Mixing up medications due to similar spellings.
- Failing to monitor your loved one’s reaction to the medication, which can help caregivers catch any mistakes or unanticipated side effects quickly.
Such mistakes can have grave outcomes. If your loved one suffered harm as the victim of a medication-related error, then you may have a case for compensation if negligence caused the error. Call our team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm for a free consultation.
Do Your Due Diligence To Protect Your Loved One
If you suspect that your loved one suffered from a medication error, or that those in charge of administering medication to your loved one may make an error, you have the option to remove your loved one from the facility. You may also take a more active role in your loved one’s medication regimen.
Do as all caregivers should by considering:
- The side effects of any medications that a doctor prescribes your loved one.
- Whether the medications align with your loved one’s needs, based on allergies, prior health conditions, and any other relevant information.
- The consequences of missing a dose or giving too weak or strong of a dose.
- The expected results of the medication versus the results that you see in your loved one. The expected and actual outcomes should come close or meet.
Individuals who play a role in prescribing, ordering, and administering medication to your loved one should know these things. If they do not, they increase the risk for medication-related error to occur and for your loved one to suffer harm as the result.
For a free legal consultation with a Medication Errors Lawyer serving Berwyn, call (800) 794-0444
Medication Error May Indicate Negligence
If nursing home employees or other medical professionals working in a nursing home follow best practices for prescribing and dispensing medication, then errors should not typically happen.
Preventable errors refer to the kinds of errors that warrant negligence-related lawsuits. When somebody’s error results in harm to you or your loved one, then you have the makings of a personal injury or wrongful death claim.
A Lawyer Can Start a Lawsuit Because of Medication Error
If you believe that your loved one experienced harm because of a medication-related error, then you should call the appropriate authorities to ensure that they remain safe from further harm. Once you secure them, a lawyer may help you pursue any compensation for which your loved one qualifies to cover their losses to date.
If a lawyer successfully proves that your loved one suffered from negligence, they may receive compensation covering:
- The cost of their stay at the nursing home where the medication error happened.
- Any direct financial consequences of the medication error, such as any medical procedures required for an adverse reaction.
- Trauma, loss of quality of life, and other harm that your loved one sustained because of the medication error.
You should act today if you believe that medication error caused harm to your loved one.
Berwyn Medication Errors Lawyer Near Me (800) 794-0444
Call a Berwyn Medication Errors Lawyer at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm
We want to make sure that your loved one does not suffer any more harm than they already have while also aiming for justice for any losses they have already endured. Call a medication errors lawyer serving Berwyn for a free consultation. You will pay nothing out of pocket and nothing up front. We collect a fee only if we secure compensation in your favor.
Call or text (800) 794-0444 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
