Medication errors occur due to nursing home neglect in Forest View and can result in catastrophic injuries or even deaths of nursing home residents. If your elderly loved one suffered from any type of medication errors as a resident in a nursing home, contact a Forest View medication error lawyer with Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to help you determine your next steps for your medical malpractice case.
Medication Errors
Loved ones may place their aging family member in a nursing home in order to ensure they are properly taken care of. Elderly residents typically require medication, sometimes several times a day. The nursing home should have a process and protocol in place so that there are absolutely no errors related to the preparation or administration of medicine at any time.
The Quality & Safety in Health Care
journal reports, though, that medication errors are common. Any such error could lead to a nursing home resident suffering serious medical complications, or even death. Some of the ways that a medical error could occur in a nursing home include the following:
- The medication is improperly prepared. In some cases, medication needs crushing, dissolving, mixing, rolling, or slicing in a specific way. If the medication preparation is improper, it could lose its positive health benefits or be dangerous.
- An attending physician prescribed incorrect medicine or the correct medicine with the wrong dosage amount. The American Journal of Managed Carehas noted an overall increase in overdose deaths, including those in nursing homes.
- The physician or nursing home staff failed to check to see if the new medication interacts negatively with any current medications the resident is taking.
- The medication distribution is poorly handled by the nursing home staff, the nursing home pharmacy, or another person involved in the medication distribution process resulting in errors.
- The nursing home staff fails to provide either food or water with the medication that is necessary or suggested by the drug manufacturer or physician.
- The nursing home staff fails to explain or monitor the administration of a sublingual tablet, and the nursing home resident swallows it instead of placing it under their tongue.
- The medication appears mislabeled, and the nursing home resident receives incorrect medication.
- Nursing home residents receive expired medications, potentially decreasing the positive health benefit of the medicine.
- Failing to check recent lab results to ensure proper medication adjustments necessary for nursing home patients.
- “Borrowing” medications from one nursing home resident to give to another either for the sake of convenience or due to supplies running low.
If you suspect or discover that your elderly loved one received incorrect medications or incorrect dosages of medications and suffered injuries or death in Forest View, you may have the right to bring a medical malpractice claim on their behalf. Contact a Forest View medication errors lawyer with Pintas & Mullins Law Firm who can help you understand your legal rights.
Preventing Medication Errors
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices advises that nursing homes make sure to follow these protocols to prevent any medication errors in their facilities.
- Always verify the patient’s information including personal information as well as any recent lab results and vital signs.
- Make sure that all nursing home staff members have information regarding all drugs and medications provided to residents.
- Provide easy and fluid communication between the physicians, pharmacies and nursing home staff employees.
- Ensure the packaging of medications is clear and that the medications are correctly stored and distributed according to written standard protocols.
- Train the nursing home staff to ensure that all employees follow similar guidelines with respect to the preparation and distribution of medications.
- Empower nursing home residents by explaining their medications to them, along with what they look like, and how the nursing home residents should take their medications properly.
Errors may still occur in a nursing home with respect to medication, however, every nursing home should take proactive steps at every level, with every type of employee to ensure that all safety measures are taken with respect to the preparation and distribution of medications to nursing home residents.
For a free legal consultation with a Medication Errors Lawyer serving Forest View, call (800) 842-6336
Medical Malpractice
When a nursing home fails to provide the correct medication or in the correct dosage amount, the nursing home resident may have legal grounds for a lawsuit based on medical malpractice. A claim can be filed against the attending physician, nursing home staff employee, nursing home facility, or the nursing home pharmacy. If your elderly loved one passed away due to the medication error, you may have the right to bring a wrongful death claim on their behalf due to the medical malpractice suffered in the nursing home.
Forest View Medication Errors Lawyer Near Me (800) 842-6336
Contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm Today
It is likely that you placed your elderly loved one in a nursing home in Forest View in order to provide the best care possible for them. One of the major reasons people place their loved ones in a nursing home is to ensure that they receive the proper medication consistently, and at the proper times each day.
If your elderly loved one suffered an injury or passed away due to a medication error in a nursing home, you may have the right to file a medical malpractice claim against the nursing home, the nursing home’s physician, the nursing home facility, or the nursing home pharmacy. Contact a Forest View medications error lawyer with Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to help you determine your legal rights.
Call or text (800) 842-6336 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
