Getting the wrong medication for your illness can be deadly. You can faithfully adhere to the prescribed medication, but your health keeps deteriorating. Your condition could worsen, and in extreme cases, it can be fatal.
When this happens, you need to hold the negligent party accountable and get compensation for the harm you suffered.
How common are errors?
With thousands of prescription medications available, something is bound to go wrong. Millions of people fall victim to prescription errors every year. It costs the economy over $40 billion annually to provide healthcare to the victims of medication errors, not to mention the human cost involved.
Why do they happen?
Prescription errors can happen at any point in the treatment process. When your healthcare provider or pharmacist fails in their duty of providing reasonable care to patients, it can lead to errors in the medication administered.
This can happen in several instances:
- Poor communication
- Mislabeling of medication
- Wrong dosage administration
- Incorrect medication
Most of these cases are avoidable yet quite common, and you need to be aware of the steps to take if you are a victim.
What do you need to do?
You might have a valid medical malpractice claim against the medical provider if they made mistakes with your medication. As a patient, you are owed a duty of care by the healthcare provider, and any slip-ups are inexcusable.
Proving negligence, however, is one of the hardest parts of a medical malpractice claim. A lot can come into play in a prescription error. Would another qualified doctor administer the same medication? Was the pharmacist or the doctor responsible?
Navigating a medical malpractice claim can get difficult due to the complex and diverse nature of medicine. It may be advisable to get help when negotiating a settlement or filing a malpractice lawsuit.