Medication and Prescription Errors Lawyers
Medication and prescription errors are mistakes which occur in prescribing, dispensing and giving of medications. Although most medication and prescription errors can be prevented, they injure hundreds of thousands of people in Australia each year.
Our team of specialist medical negligence lawyers are experienced in acting for patients in medical negligence compensation claims involving medication and prescription errors all around Australia. We understand the devastating effects of having suffered an injury or a worsened medical condition, or experienced the loss of a loved one, because of medication and prescription errors.
We’ll be here for you every step of the way guiding you through the process in your medical negligence claim. We have the expert knowledge, expertise and a proven history needed to obtain outstanding results in all types of medical negligence compensation claims involving medication and prescription errors.
We’ll act for you in your medication or prescription error medical negligence claim on a no win, no fee basis with no upfront costs. See our why choose us page for many more reasons as to why so many Australians choose Longton Compensation Lawyers over anyone else for their medical negligence compensation claims arising out of medication and prescription errors.
What are medication and prescription errors?
Medication and prescription errors are preventable events. They occur due to the inappropriate use of medications. A medication or prescription error could cause you to take more or less than the recommended dose of a drug, putting yourself at risk of not eradicating the condition for which it is prescribed, organ damage or other profound consequences. They can also result in you taking 2 mediations together leading to a potentially life-threatening conditions, such as, for example, serotonin syndrome.
– Example 1
A child is taken to a hospital emergency department with fever and vomiting as well as other symptoms. These symptoms are caused by development of a virus in the child’s brain. Not only is there a delay in administration of appropriate treatment for the child’s viral illness, but the dosage given is, also, less than the recommended dosage. As result, the child does not receive an adequate dose of antiviral therapy to eradicate the virus in a timely manner and suffers brain damage.
– Example 2
A patient is prescribed with high doses of prednisolone or prednisone for a chest infection over a prolonged period in the circumstances where the lowest effective dose over the shortest possible period ought to be utilised. As a result of long term, high dose prednisolone or prednisone use, the patient develops avascular necrosis in both hips.
– Example 3
At time of discharge from hospital, instead of being instructed to take one anticoagulation medication followed by another anticoagulation medication, due to a typographical error on the discharge summary, the patient is instructed to take both anticoagulation medications at the same time. As a result, the patient suffers from catastrophic internal bleeding and a near death experience.
Why do medication and prescription errors occur?
Medication and prescription errors can happen to anyone in any place, including your own home and at the doctor’s office, a hospital, a pharmacy and a senior living facility. The most common causes of medication errors are:
- Poor communication.
- Drug names and medication names that sound and look alike.
- Incorrect diagnosis.
- Dose miscalculations.
- Incorrect drug administration.
- Lack of patient education.
- Choosing a medicine that is inappropriate and ineffective.
- Under-prescribing and overprescribing.
- Illegibility of prescriptions due to poor handwriting.
- Not altering therapy when required or erroneous alteration.
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