The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia reached an instructive decision regarding conflicting expert testimony in prescription medication injury cases where causation is at issue. In the case, Patteson v. Maloney, Dist. Court, Dist. Col. (2013), the plaintiff was suing her prior psychiatrist for prescribing her Seroquel, which…
The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina recently handed ruled on a motion to dismiss, filed by Walgreens in a negligence lawsuit regarding improperly dispensed fertility medication. In the case, Caesar v. Walgreen Co., Dist. Court, D. South Carolina (2013), the plaintiffs allege that Walgreens improperly filled…
In 2009, the United States Supreme Court handed down a seminal decision regarding the liability of drug manufacturers for failure to adequately warn of the risks associated with using a particular drug. The Court examined the argument of a drug manufacturer that it could not be held liable for a…
The Massachusetts Senate voted late last month unanimously to increase regulatory oversight within the state of drug compounding pharmacies, in order to help protect patient safety. The potential issues regarding the largely unregulated compounding pharmacies such as the one in Massachusetts, which was believed to be the source of a…
Federal investigators and prosecutors in Indiana believe that four doctors at various medical center locations may be responsible for having caused as many as 27 deaths. The individuals who died were all patients at a group of clinics in the area. Two of the doctors accused of causing the deaths…
An Alabama jury recently awarded a widow $850,000 after her husband was allegedly administered triple the normal dosage of medication for a pre-existing condition, and died as a result on Christmas Day. The jury reportedly spent hours deliberating before delivering the verdict against the man’s doctor, for having purportedly caused…
The family of a young girl recently filed a $750,000 federal lawsuit against her local pharmacy, alleging that the business wrote the incorrect directions on her prescription for a seizure medication, causing the girl to take five times the proper dosage of the drug. According to the lawsuit, the little…
A doctor/medication safety specialist recently wrote an article about a common abbreviation that could lead to severely adverse consequences in patients. The article, which appears in the web version of the Pharmacy Times, discusses one common abbreviation for acetaminophen, APAP, which is based upon the chemical composition of the drug,…
In probably one of the most egregious incidents that have occurred in pharmacy error news lately, a young woman was intentionally given the incorrect prescription medication in order to induce a miscarriage. The 27 year old Florida woman was apparently deceived by her boyfriend who colluded with a local pharmacy…
As previously discussed on this blog, one of the most common errors made by prescribing doctors, or in those who input values, is accidentally increasing the dosage, such as in the entering of “10.0 mg,” when the person should have input “1.0 mg.” Even though the error is only a…