Hospital Pharmacy Errors

Medication Error Causes Death in Washington State Hospital

September 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news, our Baltimore, Maryland medication error attorneys have been following the story of a recent tragedy, resulting in the death of a patient who went to the hospital for outpatient shoulder surgery, and died shortly after, due to a medication error.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Gary William Clezie went to Yakima Regional Medical & Cardiac Center in February 2009, for a simple outpatient arthroscopic shoulder surgery. A few hours after the surgery, Clezie reportedly suffered from brain damage, as a result of an alleged medication error, and died two days later, when his family agreed to remove the construction worker from life support.

After the surgery, Clezie received Dilaudid for his pain, a potent opioid drug for pain management. Clezie was given a device that allowed him to medicate as needed, by self-administering the drug. The doctor reportedly ordered that Clezie have a blood oxygen level monitoring device, that would alert the nursing staff if the oxygen in his blood dipped below a specific level—in which case the staff would alert the doctor, remove drug device from Clezie, and make sure that he was given oxygen.

But according to the Post-Intelligencer, Clezie’s blood-oxygen monitoring device was not attached to him, so when his blood oxygen level plummeted below the doctor’s defined level, his doctor was not notified, he was not removed from the drug device, and he was not given oxygen. Clezie stopped breathing and suffered severe brain damage from the error that led the misadministration of the pain medication.

Clezie’s family reportedly filed a complaint with the Department of Health’s licensing division and the Department of Health determined, as a result of the medication error, that there were grounds for a corrective action against Yakima. The Post Intelligencer claims that Clezie is one of thousands who suffer harm, personal injury, or even wrongful death from medical care in Washington hospitals every year.

Woman Sues Medical Center for Negligence Over Accidental Reuse of Syringe During Surgery

September 20, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent medical malpractice news story that our Washington D.C. medication error attorneys have been following, a patient at a medical center in Pittsburgh was reportedly administered anesthesia before surgery with the wrong syringe—a syringe that had been already used on another patient.

According to WXPI, patient Kimberlee Blocker was at Forbes Regional Hospital to undergo surgery, when the hospital reportedly gave her the wrong dosage of anesthesia, from a syringe that had previously been used on another patient. Blocker claims she was told after the surgery about the medication error, and that another patient’s syringe had accidentally been placed on her tray.

Blocker stated that after the medical mix-up occurred, she had to endure six tough months of hepatitis and HIV tests to determine if the alleged medical mistake with the wrong syringe had infected her with any diseases. She claims to have cried every time she took a test and was forced to wait two-weeks each time, for the results to come back.

Blocker claims that she could have easily died on that table as the medication that was mistakenly administered to her before the surgery was not prescribed for her. She is reportedly suing the hospital for negligence. Although Blocker’s HIV and hepatitis tests came back with negative results, she hopes that this lawsuit will help others from having to undergo this kind of treatment in the future.

Family Sues Hospital for Wrongful Death in Morphine Overdose

August 25, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Hartford pharmacy error attorneys have recently been alerted about a wrongful death lawsuit announced last week involving the incorrect administration of morphine, a topic our Maryland attorneys have been reporting on in our Maryland nursing home lawyer blog.

The lawsuit claims that Henry Peters Dyck entered the hospital in July of 2008 with a condition on his right knee called hemarthrosis, that caused pain and bleeding in the joint of his right knee. Dyck was reportedly prescribed 10 – 30 mg of morphine in a liquid form every four hours as needed.

According to the lawsuit, filed by Dyck’s family, one week later, a nurse accidentally gave Dyck a cup of liquid morphine that contained 100 mg, instead of the 10 – 30 mg he was supposed to receive. The dosage was around five times stronger than his prescription called for, and this medication error caused Dyck to go into distress from the morphine poisoning.

The staff at the hospital reportedly tried to reverse the poisoning by pumping Dyck’s stomach, inducing vomiting and flushing his bowels, but the attempts failed, causing Dyck to suffer a heart attack. Dyck died four hours after the morphine overdose.

Dyck’s family claims in the lawsuit that the staff did not give him Naloxone, a drug known to be used as a remedy to stop the lift-threatening effects of morphine. The family alleges that the hospital’s attempts in saving Dyck’s life were not effective, caused him great pain and were physically invasive—all contributing in the end to Dyck’s wrongful death.

E-prescribing Usage Increases with Doctors, but Not Without Problems

August 2, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As our Washington D.C. Pharmacy Error Injury Attorneys reported in a recent blog, physicians who are not prescribing medications electronically, or e-prescribing, by 2012 will be financially penalized by the federal government.

Although the use of electronic prescribing has increased in years, and evidence shows that e-prescribing can reduce pharmacy misfills that can lead to patient injury or even wrongful death, many local doctors reportedly clam that overall acceptance of this important technology is lagging.

According to a study published last week by the Washington-based think tank, the Center for Studying Health System Change, less than one-third of this country’s physicians in office settings, are e-prescribing. The study also revealed that even fewer physicians that were e-prescribing were using the beneficial aspects of the system, like searching for serious drug interactions and using the system to cross reference patient insurance for prescription drug verifications to ensure health plan payment coverage. The study also found that even fewer doctors who used the electronic system would actually prescribe medications electronically, opting to use the fax machine instead for prescription submittal.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) claims 1.5 million people in this country are injured by preventable medication errors, with nearly 7,000 deaths every year.

Drug Alert Warns Epinephrine Syringe Shortage Could Lead to Dosing Error Risks

June 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In yesterday’s blog, our medication error attorneys discussed a recent accidental overdose of epinephrine that led to a man’s death in a hospital. According to the FDA, Epinephrine is a high alert medication that could cause significant patient harm or injury when used in error. Medication error can occur when there is confusion in regard to epinephrine product ratio strengths. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices, ISMP, has received a number of fatality reports due to miscalculations of strengths of epinephrine injections.

In similar epinephrine news, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), announced a National Alert Network (NAN) message this month, to warn healthcare providers about dangerous medication mistakes that could be caused by a shortage of pre-filled epinephrine syringes.

The NAN warning states that emergency syringes of epinephrine in 1mg/10mL (0.1 mg/ml) are currently on backorder from the Hospira Inc., the only manufacturer of the product after the pharmaceutical company Amphastar stopped making its emergency syringes of the drug in 2009.

According to ASHP’s director of medication use, quality and improvement, Bona Benjamin, Epinephrine is a life saving drug used in ambulances, hospitals and any other emergency settings when a patient’s heart has stopped.

Benjamin claimed that the shortage of epinephrine does not effect quantities of the EpiPen, the epinephrine injection products that are self administered in .3 mg and .15 mg doses, to remedy severe emergency reactions to food, medication, insect bites, and other reactions of an allergic nature.

Man Dies After Receiving Overdose of Drug in Hospital

June 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland Medication Error Attorneys have been reading about the tragic incident that happen in Maine recently, after a local man went to the emergency room with symptoms of anaphylaxis, and was given an overdose of the drug epinephrine—causing his wrongful death.

After suffering an allergic reaction from eating seafood that included facial swelling and thickening of the tongue, Timothy Harvey, 51, went to the Mayo Regional Hospital emergency room for treatment. Harvey was reportedly given 0.3 milligrams of epinephrine, and reportedly showed good signs of improvement.

While Harvey was being observed by the hospital staff, he had another allergic attack, with some of the earlier symptoms. The staff reportedly gave him another dose of epinephrine, but accidentally administered an incorrect dosage of the drug, causing a medication error that was ten times the normal dose, 3 milligrams instead of 0.3 milligrams.

According to the FDA, Epinephrine is a high alert medication that could cause significant harm or patient injury when used in error. When Harvey started to experience chest pain and shortness of breath, the medical team discovered the mistake, and immediately contacted the poison control center to attempt to reverse the effects of the drug, but with no success. The Epinephrine overdose ultimately killed Harvey, despite the hospital staff’s many attempts to save his life.

“July Effect” Study—Report Suggests July is the Worst Month for Fatal Medication Errors

June 21, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego recently published a study in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, examining the myth of the “July Effect”—a legend that considers July a dangerous month for hospital patients to undergo treatment.

The study found that fatal medication errors in hospitals are at their highest in July, especially in teaching hospitals. July is reportedly the month when recent medical students graduates report to residencies in teaching hospitals and are given new responsibilities for patient care.

In their research, Dr. David Phillips and Gwendolyn Barker studied the relationship between medication error and inexperience in July, when thousands of medical residents begin their residencies. The research focused on the changes in the total number of medication mistakes; which includes medicine given and taken in error, accidental drug overdose, accidental medication errors in medical and surgical procedures, and drugs taken accidentally.

The study inspected 244,388 death certificates across the country, focusing on fatal medication errors that were recorded as the primary cause of death between 1979 and 2006—comparing the July death numbers with the number of events that are expected in any month in any year.

Medication Mistake Causes Accident Death and Takes Toddler’s Life

June 18, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Recently our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers discussed the topic of medication mistakes with children in a blog, after actor Dennis Quaid filed another lawsuit against Baxter Healthcare Corporation, after his twins were given a near fatal dose of medication in the hospital.

Sadly, in another children’s medication mistake incident that our attorneys have been following, a 19-month child in Omaha recently died after being given medication in a hospital that was improperly administered into her body.

The child, Alicia Coleman, was born twelve weeks premature, and battled a gastrointestinal disorder, but had been a fighter from the start according to her mother, Dominique Coleman, and was reportedly getting stronger with improved health. Coleman claimed that doctors had even recently claimed that her daughter’s medications would soon be cut in half, as the child was just starting to walk and talk.

Coleman claims that after dropping her daughter off at Children’s Home Healthcare’s World, where Alicia was due to receive medication, a nurse mistakenly made a medication error while giving the child a drug that was supposed to slow the absorption of food in her system. Instead of putting the drug into Alicia’s feeding tube, the drug was reportedly put into a tube that was the central line to the child’s heart, causing a seizure and cardiac arrest.

Family Sues UPMC Hospital for Medication Mistake that Led to Wrongful Death

June 10, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As medication mistake attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland, we have been following a recent lawsuit filed by the family of an 82-year old patient, who died last year after a medical mistake was made in the recording of her medical history—that led to her receiving a medication dosage that was seven times the strength of her original prescription.

Eileen Funston was reportedly admitted to UPMC Passavant Hospital, in Pittsburg, PA in October of last year, where her medication history was reportedly recorded incorrectly by the doctor.

Funston’s dosage of methotrexate, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, was reportedly recorded as 12.5 milligrams per day, which should have been 12.5 milligrams per week. The medication error in her medical records was reportedly not detected, and was then repeated in her records when she was moved to another care center.

Funston’s family claims that the medication mistake lead to an overdose of methotrexate, causing Funston to suffer internal bleeding, that cause her to aspirate blood. She was reportedly moved back to UPMC Passavant hospital, where she died.

Actor Dennis Quaid Sues Baxter Healthcare Again Over Near-Fatal Drug Error

May 28, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Washington D.C. Medication Error Attorneys have been following, Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid has filed another lawsuit against Baxter Healthcare, Corporation after his newborn twins were given a near-fatal overdose of Baxter’s medication in a Los Angeles hospital.

In the high profile incident, Quaid’s newborn twins were given an overdose of the medication Heparin, a blood thinner, due to an alleged medication mix-up of Baxter drugs that that have similar looking labels with hard-to-read fine print. The twins were incorrectly given 10,000 units of the drug Heparin, instead of the 10 units of Hep-Lock that was orginally prescribed to treat a staph infection.

After the dismissal of a similar lawsuit filed against Baxter in Illinois, Quaid is going after Baxter again, filing a second lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. Quaid claims that the healthcare corporation acted negligently, and did not recall the 10,000 Heparin vials or warn hospitals and medical providers of the possibility for drug error after similar medication mistakes had occurred, resulting in the injury and wrongful deaths of infants.

The complaint claims that Baxter was obliged to alert hospitals and healthcare providers about the previous drug errors, and correct the labels to prevent the medication errors from happening in the future.