What is it?
Prescription errors are mistakes in the dispensing of medications, caused by
either carelessness or negligence. Upwards of 400,000 people are affected by
prescription errors each year, and as many as 7,000 lose their lives. These
errors can be the fault of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, nursing homes, even
mail-order drug dispensaries.
The consequences of prescription errors can be significant especially in
children, where accurate dosage is critical. These include:
• Allergic reaction, sometimes resulting in severe anaphylactic shock
• Dangerous increase or decrease in blood pressure
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Kidney failure
• Liver failure
• Gastro-intestinal bleeding
What causes it?
It is the duty of your caregivers to prescribe and administer your
prescriptions safely. Mistakes can occur in the doctor’s office if your doctor
prescribes a dosage that is too high for your height and weight, or if they fail
to take into account drug allergies or other drugs you are taking that may
interact adversely with the prescribed medication.
Illegible handwriting seems cliché, but it can lead to serious consequences if
the pharmacist misinterprets the drug or dosage and fails to verify it with the
doctor. Pharmacists can also mix up orders between patients, give you the wrong
dosage of a particular drug, or confuse pills whose generic and brand-name forms
may look different, or which may have changed in size or shape.
Mistakes happen, but it is the legal responsibility of doctors, pharmacists,
caregivers, and the facilities in which they work to have adequate safeguards in
place to catch errors before they reach the patient.
Why Jacobs and Goodman?
Medical malpractice is a specialty of our
firm. We have extensive experience litigating failure to diagnose and delayed
treatment cases. To investigate such a case, we consult medical experts, we
review medical records, interview eyewitnesses, and identify medical mistakes
that can lead to late diagnoses of cancer and other serious illnesses.
We know the other side. Many of our attorneys have worked for the defense side
early in their careers, defending hospitals and doctors, so we know how the
other side thinks, what tactics they’ll try, and what actions to take to counter
them.
We have the financial resources. Insurance companies have deep pockets, and they
spend that money to not only fight your claim, but to prolong the case with the
hope of breaking you financially. We have the financial resources to fight them,
and we’ll spend whatever is necessary to bring in the best experts and follow
the case to the end, without cutting corners.
We’re experienced trial lawyers. We approach each case as though we’re going to
trial. While many of our cases settle out of court with satisfactory
remuneration for the client, it’s only because the defense knows we can take it
to trial effectively.
At Jacobs & Goodman,
• You always get an attorney, never a case manager like at other firms.
• We take a personal interest in your case, and help you through every aspect,
including helping you deal with medical leins and debts.
• We work on a contingency basis, which means if we don’t win your case, you
don’t pay.
If you think you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice due
to delayed treatment or failure to diagnose, contact us to schedule a free
consultation.