Medication Errors in Hospitals | Hourigan Kluger & Quinn
Learn how hospital medication errors happen and when they may lead to medical malpractice concerns.
Medication Errors Can Cause Serious Patient Harm
Medication errors can happen in any medical setting including hospitals, nursing homes, emergency rooms, pharmacies, and outpatient clinics.
These errors may involve prescribing the wrong medication or the wrong dosage, administering medication to the wrong patient, failing to administer medication, or dangerous drug interactions.
Medication errors often involve failures in communication between doctors, nurses, and pharmacists and can cause allergic reactions, overdoses, organ damage, respiratory distress, brain damage, or death.
In Pennsylvania, medication error cases require proof that the error was the result of negligence and that the negligence caused injury or death. Key evidence may include medication administration records, physician orders, pharmacy records, nursing notes, allergy records, lab results, and hospital policies.
A Certificate of Merit is generally required in order to pursue a medical malpractice case such as a medication error case. This means a qualified medical expert must review the case and confirm that there is a reasonable basis for the claim.
Related Articles
Understanding Your Legal Rights After Medical Harm
Understanding your legal rights after a medication error is important because these cases have to be filed within two years and require detailed review of the medical records and literature to determine if there was negligence and whether the injury or death could have been prevented.
Click here for more information and to review your options.