Common Errors

Grandmother’s Death Resulting from Pharmacist’s Error Highlights Dangers of Overworked Pharmacists

December 15, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While doctors prescribe medication to patients, they have to rely on pharmacists to fill the prescriptions correctly, and when pharmacists are overworked, errors increase—putting patients at greater risk.

There are a number of work conditions that may cause an increase in errors. For example, many pharmacists are required to fill a high number of prescriptions every hour. Some pharmacists claim they have too many prescriptions to fill in one shift in addition to receiving orders, talking to insurers, and counseling patients. A senior pharmacist interviewed for a recent report explained that some pharmacists are required to fill over 30 prescriptions an hour, which equates to two minutes per prescription. On top of that, pharmacists must also check for potential drug interactions for each prescription and counsel patients who have questions about their prescribed medications.

One study published in the American Journal of Health-Systems Pharmacy showed that overworked pharmacists lead to an increase in prescription errors. The study looked at prescription errors in a large hospital pharmacy and found the number of errors increased with the number of orders a pharmacist filled in one shift. Other pharmacists complain that they are required to fill general customer service duties in stores in addition to fulfilling their duties as pharmacists.

Victims of Dangerous Pharmacy Mistakes Shouldn’t Feel Guilty about Filing a Claim

December 1, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It is common for the victims of prescription mistakes and other potentially dangerous medical errors to feel sympathy for medical professionals who made a mistake that could form the basis for a lawsuit. In fact, some victims decide not to report an error or make a claim because they feel guilty revealing a potentially career-ending mistake that was innocently made by a pharmacist or another medical professional.

Although this feeling is understandable, the victims of pharmacy errors should not feel guilty about bringing claims seeking damages to which they are entitled. In fact, pharmacy error claims ultimately benefit not only the retail pharmaceutical industry and pharmacists as a whole, but also the American people by helping form a professional and respected occupation that is responsible for the health and lives of our citizens.

Pharmacy Industry Report Discusses the Motivation Within the Industry that is Caused by Error Claims

An article recently published by a pharmaceutical industry magazine attempts to show the issue of pharmacy errors from a pharmacist’s perspective. In the report, one pharmacist is spotlighted, and he discusses the effect that pharmacy errors have had on his career. Referring to the errors as “inevitable” in the careers of pharmacists, the article demonstrates the idea that pharmacy error claims and lawsuits, and more specifically the desire to avoid them, provide a great deal of motivation to those in the pharmaceutical industry and may actually improve the overall quality of care by incentivizing accuracy when dispensing prescription medications.

Prescription Errors Can Have Devastating Consequences

November 14, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription errors are common and can occur in a variety of circumstances. They can be made by a doctor prescribing a medication or by a pharmacist filling a prescription. They can be made by providing the incorrect dosage, or they can occur by providing the wrong drug. For example, some drug names that are similar can be confused, and a prescription may be filled with the wrong medication. The Institute for Safe Medicine has even comprised a list of commonly mixed-up drug names. Also, a pharmacist may simply misinterpret or misread a doctor’s prescription. Any of these mistakes can have serious consequences for patients.

Victims of prescription errors may be entitled to monetary compensation, but they or their loved one will need to establish that a defendant acted negligently by doing or failing to do something. This means the plaintiff has to show the defendant failed to meet the “standard of care,” which generally requires the medical professional to use the same practices and procedures that other medical professionals would use in the situation.

Since medical malpractice cases, including prescription errors, involve complicated medical information, it is important to hire an experienced medical malpractice attorney who understands how to interpret medical information and knows how to use experts effectively. The damages resulting from a prescription error case can be devastating, and injured parties should be compensated fairly for their losses.

Medical Mistakes Are the Third-Leading Cause of Death; Many Involve Pharmacy Errors

October 12, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Many people are unaware, but medical mistakes are the third-leading cause of death in the United States, causing roughly 365,000 deaths per year. The category of medical mistakes is a broad category, including medical malpractice, diagnostic errors, surgical errors, and pharmacy errors.

Pharmacy errors occur when a pharmacist provides a patient with the wrong dose of a prescribed medication, the wrong directions on how to take a prescribed medication, or the wrong medication altogether. These errors may occur in the hospital setting or in a retail pharmacy, but errors occurring in the in-patient setting are even more frightening and surprising because the medication is actually delivered by a doctor or nurse. One would expect that this extra layer of interaction would result in most pharmacy errors being discovered before a medication is delivered to a patient, but that is not necessarily the case.

In a recent article discussing medical mistakes generally, as well as what can be done to prevent them, the writer mentions several precautions that can be taken to decrease the frequency of in-patient pharmacy errors. The first suggestion is to have pharmacists make rounds to see all patients in the hospital along with the doctors and nurses. The author explains that while doctors are in charge of a patient’s overall care plan, a pharmacist is a much-needed consultant when it comes to any potential interactions medications may have with one another. In fact, a recent study cited by the article notes that hospitals that have implemented this plan have seen a 94% reduction of serious pharmacy errors.

Name Mix-Ups Are One of the Most Common Types of Pharmacy Errors

September 19, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Pharmacists are human, and like all other humans they are susceptible to making mistakes. The range of pharmacy errors is vast, from incorrect medications to improper dosing instructions, but the effects are always the same. The patient is put in grave danger of either not receiving their prescribed medication or ingesting a potentially harmful, unprescribed substance. In any event, despite the fact that most pharmacy errors are committed by well-intentioned pharmacists, when a patient suffers serious harm as a result of an error, a personal injury lawsuit may be an appropriate way for the patient to receive compensation for all they have been put through.

Just as there are many types of pharmacy errors, there are also many causes. One of the most common causes of in- and out-patient pharmacy errors is a pharmacist mixing up similarly named medications. In fact, a recent article in one industry news source discusses how two similarly named drugs, Venofer and Vfend, were recently the subject of a potentially serious pharmacy error.

Evidently, the pharmacist who made the error had filled a prescription for Venofer 200 mg earlier in the day. Once complete, the pharmacist placed the prescription in the “complete” basket and moved on to other projects. Later that day, the pharmacist came across another prescription, this time for Vfend. Having just filled a prescription for Venofer, the pharmacist misread the label and grabbed Venofer instead of Vfend. Both drugs were in a 200-mg dose, adding to the confusion.

Recent Study Links Medication Errors to Sound-Alike Drug Names

August 8, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It should come as no surprise that pharmacists are busy professionals. Often filling thousands of prescriptions a week for hundreds of clients, keeping everything straight can be a difficult task. However, it is one that pharmacists take on willingly. It is also a task that they are legally obligated to complete accurately. In other words, when a pharmacist makes a mistake with a patient’s medication, the pharmacist who filled the prescription, as well as the pharmacy that employs the pharmacist, may be held financially liable for any injuries as a result of the error.

The causes of medication error are not generally a lazy or uncaring pharmacist. In fact, according to a recent study, the causes of many pharmacy errors are that there are too many prescription drugs with similar names. According to one news report covering the new study, look-alike and sound-alike drug names are a real problem in the pharmaceutical industry.

The Study

The study took a group of pharmacists, nurses, doctors, technicians, and lay people, and it attempted to determine if mix-ups occurring in the labs (before a drug is released to the pharmacy) can be predictive of future errors that may occur in real life. The results of the study were not surprising in that similar-looking or similar-sounding drug names will result in an increase in error rates.

Fatal Pharmacy Errors and the Parties Responsible for Preventing Them

July 1, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Pharmacy errors are an unfortunately common phenomenon across the United States. Most often, these errors stem from a single problem: a lack of oversight. Often, serious pharmacy errors occur due to a busy pharmacist or pharmacist technician filling an order in haste, rather than taking the proper amount of time and double-checking their work. Ultimately, the responsibility for these errors falls not only on the pharmacist technician making the mistake but also on management in charge of supervising that pharmacist’s work.

In fact, the responsibility for a serious or fatal pharmacy error may lie with several parties. Depending on the specific facts involved in each case, liability may lie with the pharmacist, the management of the pharmacy, and potentially even with other supervising organizations. A recent article discussing a situation in Canada gives an example not often seen here in the United States, but one that could possibly arise.

First Nation Leaders Concerned over Dozens of Deaths Tied to Pharmacy Errors

Over two dozen First Nation citizens in Canada have died at least in part due to pharmacy errors that have occurred over the past 10 months. According to a local news source covering the deaths, all First Nation people in Canada have a specific company that oversees all their prescription drug needs. This company has a contract with the Canadian government.

Customer Service at Specialty Pharmacies May Be an Issue for Some Patients

June 15, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As business practices across the board evolve, so does the pharmacy industry. And with brick-and-mortar pharmacies requiring high month-to-month operating costs, mail-order pharmacies are becoming more common as a way for some patients to save money on their costly prescriptions. With the increase in popularity of mail-order pharmacies, more and more people are getting experience dealing with these companies, which do not present any opportunity for face-to-face interaction.

The truth of the matter is that pharmacies – regardless of where they are based – have a duty to their patients to accurately fill all prescriptions. And if a mail-order pharmacy can save customers money on prescriptions by not needing to pay real-estate or rental costs, that is fine, but pharmacies should not cut corners when it comes to staffing or customer service. However, that is exactly what one woman experienced when trying to secure her husband’s necessary daily medications from one mail-order pharmacy.

According to a recent article by Forbes, customer service at some mail-order pharmacies may be so poor that it puts patients in danger of running out of necessary medication. The article details the plight of a woman whose husband had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Aside from dealing with the life-changing realizations the diagnosis brought, the couple also had to find a way to ensure a steady supply of the husband’s extremely expensive day-to-day medications.

What to Do if the Pharmacist Gives You the Wrong Medication

March 1, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Ideally, pharmacists would always provide their patients with the correct medication and dosing instructions. However, that is not the reality we live in. It seems as though each week several new reports of prescription errors arise, some with serious or fatal consequences. While the duty to prevent these errors lies with the pharmacist, there are some steps that can be taken to help reduce the frequency of pharmacy errors. In addition, there are also steps that should be taken once a prescription error is noticed.

According to a recent report, there are over 100,000 deaths each year from adverse drug interactions. Many of these are the result of a pharmacy error. In fact, it is estimated that each year, there are about 7,000 preventable fatalities due to mistakes made in a pharmacy setting. Pharmacists and the pharmacies that employ them may be held accountable for their mistakes through civil lawsuits based on the legal theory of negligence. However, how a victim of a prescription error handles the moments after discovering an error may affect the viability of any personal injury claim in the future. Thus, it is important that certain steps be taken after noticing that you have been provided the wrong medication by a pharmacist.

What to Do in the Wake of a Prescription Error

First, and most importantly, seek out medical treatment immediately. While some pharmacy errors are relatively benign, others can be fatal, depending on the patient as well as the medication. Patients should not attempt to treat themselves and should let a medical professional assess the situation.

Pharmacists’ Reactions to Reported Medication Errors

February 8, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Mistakes happen. Despite the best efforts of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, sometimes an error will occur, and a patient will be provided with the wrong medication, or provided with the right medication but with inaccurate instructions on how to take it. In these cases, patients will almost always first reach out to the filling pharmacist to determine whether an error occurred and whether they should immediately go to the hospital. When pharmacy staff denies the error or tries to push the mistake onto someone else, patients understandably get frustrated.

On one hand, it makes sense why a pharmacist would initially deny liability when hearing that a medication error occurred, since if any injuries result from the error, they could be held personally and professionally liable. In addition, the pharmacy that employs the technician can also be held liable. In fact, in some cases the financial liability for medication errors can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, in cases when a serious injury or death is the result. However, avoiding responsibility or hiding the truth from the patient is certainly not the best practice.

Pharmacists Encouraged to Have Detailed Procedures in Place for Reported Errors

Earlier last month, a pharmaceutical industry news source reported on how pharmacies should consider putting detailed protocols in place for handling reported medication errors. The article documents one woman’s experience filling a prescription for 20 mg pills of amitriptyline. Instead of filling the prescription with the 20 mg pills the doctor ordered, the woman was provided 200 mg pills by the pharmacist on duty.