Common Errors

Benefits of Robo Pharmacy Technology in Reducing Prescription Errors

April 1, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyer blog entry, our attorneys discussed automated hospital pharmacies the use robots instead of people for tasks that are traditionally manual—in an effort to eliminate medication errors that could cause patient harm or personal injury.

According to the Medical Center of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a hospital that recently implemented an automated hospital pharmacy–the benefits of using an robots instead of people are:

• Robots will help take over the manual medication dispensing tasks traditionally performed by pharmacists and nurses, who will in turn have more time to work with physicians to decide what the best patient drug therapy is, and will have more time to monitor each patient for any clinical responses or adverse reactions to medicine.
• The new pharmacy will provide pharmacy students with a strong training ground in the safe medication distribution systems of the future.
• The pharmacy will also enable the center to study new forms of medication delivery in order to share this groundbreaking information with other hospitals all over the country.

• Out of the 350,000 doses prepared by the robo-pharmacy since 2010, there has not been a single medication error or pharmacy misfill.

According to UCSF, the automated medication dispensing system will allow pharmacists to use their expertise in pharmaceutical care to make sure that each patients receives medication therapy that is catered to their individual needs, in a safe and effective way.

UCSF Employs New Automated Pharmacy to Prevent Pharmacy Error

March 28, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In an effort to reduce pharmacy misfills and medication error, the Medical Center of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has recently employed a series of pharmacy robots, according to recent technology news that our Baltimore-based pharmacy misfill attorneys have been following.

In the newly automated hospital pharmacy, UCSF has employed what they consider to be the most comprehensive robots on the market, to prepare and track medications and improve the safety of patients. According to UCSF, since the automated system took over in October 2010, there has not been a single error in the 350,000 medication doses prepared.

This newly automated pharmacy reportedly streamlines the delivery of medication from the prescription directly to the patient, making every step in the medication therapy process safe and effective–from deciding the best drug treatment to patient administration—in order to reduce medication error injury.

How the Robo-Pharmacy Technology works:

• The automated system reportedly prepares medications that are oral and injectable, including chemotherapy drugs that are toxic. The robots are also able to fill IV bags or syringes with medications.
• Once the computers receive a new electronic medication order from an UCSF physician and pharmacist, the robots pick the medication, package the drugs, and dispense doses of the pills that are individualized for each patient.
• The robots assemble medication doses into a thin plastic ring that contains a bar code with all of patients’ medications for a period of 12 hours.
• In the fall of this year, all UCSF Medical Center nurses will start using bar code scanners that read patients’ medication data at their bedsides–a topic our attorneys have discussed in a recent Maryland pharmacy error injury blog–to verify that the patient is being treated with the correct medication.
• A robotic inventory management system also maintains all medication products, with pharmacy warehouses that provide both refrigerated and non-refrigerated drug and supply storage and retrieval.

500 Unapproved Prescription Cough and Cold Medications Banned by FDA

March 22, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland-based prescription drug error attorneys have been following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent announcement, ordering the makers of around 500 prescription cold, cough and allergy medications to take the drugs off the pharmacy shelves, as they have not been proven to be safe and effective.

According to the FDA, the prescription drugs in question have not been linked to any major problems or drug-related injuries, but the FDA is still concerned that the medical problems associated with the drugs could be seriously under reported.

The agency claims that the drugs have not been evaluated by the FDA, and taking them may be more of a risk to the consumer than taking over-the-counter (OTC) medications to treat the same symptoms, that have been approved. The FDA also claimed that the action is necessary to protect consumers from any health and safety risks posed by these unapproved drugs, as the agency does not know how they are made, whether they are effective, or what is in them.

One of the problems that the agency found was with time-release drugs, which are reportedly hard to manufacture, and can release too slowly or not at all if quality controls in the manufacturing of the drug are inadequate. The FDA also made a move against unapproved products that contain drug combinations that could be considered dangerous, like combining two antihistamines, which could react in oversedation.

Hospital Sued for Wrongful Death After Patient Dies from Drug Error

March 22, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore-based pharmacy error injury attorneys have been following the recent and tragic news story surrounding a Massachusetts woman, who endured a hospital medication error during a routine hospital stay that reportedly led to her wrongful death.

According to the Boston Globe, Geraldine Oswald was hospitalized in November of last year to clear up an infection that had developed after breaking her shoulder. While staying in the hospital, she reportedly received too much Lepirudin, a blood-thinning drug used to prevent the formation of potentially dangerous blood clots. The medication overdose affected Oswald’s own blood clotting ability, leading to internal bleeding. While in the hospital’s care, Oswald reportedly hemorrhaged for 12 hours before her wrongful death—which the hospital later stated could have been preventable.

The family of Oswald recently stated that they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Massachusetts General Hospital, two nurses and five doctors, claiming that Oswald was supposed to be treated for a common infection, and instead received a blood thinner that was 30 times too high in dosage, and proved to be lethal.

According to the hospital’s report, the on-duty nurse understood the dosage intended for Oswald, but made a medication error while administrating the dose into the I.V. pump. In a meeting with Oswald’s family members after her death, the hospital reportedly stated that the medical error was preventable.

Pharmacy Misfill and Medication Error Prevention

March 8, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Baltimore pharmacy error injury blog, our attorneys discussed the prevalence of pharmacy misfills and prescription drug errors plaguing our nation, with over 1.5 million injuries medication-related events documented by an Institute of Medicine study.

According to a related study discussed by Good Housekeeping magazine, pharmacy errors occur in one out of every five prescriptions. Another study reportedly found that 18 percent of hospital patients are exposed to medication errors. When addressing the problem of pharmacy error and medication mistakes, it is important for the consumer to always check and make sure that the prescription given at the pharmacy is the exact medication prescribed by the doctor.

As our Maryland medication mistake lawyers discussed previously, taking the necessary steps to verify your prescription with the pharmacist before taking medication can prove to be an extremely valuable step in preventing medication error injury. A few pharmacy error prevention tips include:

When receiving a new prescription, always ask the doctor to write down the medical problem associated with the medication, as this could help prevent a pharmacy misfill. Also, when filling a prescription for the first time, it is important to check the prescription label carefully to verify the name, dosage and directions for usage. It is also important to form a relationship with the pharmacist, to discuss the medication directions, as well as any potential allergies or potential medication conflicts that could happen with any other current prescriptions or supplements.

Another Child Receives Prescription Mix-up From Same Walgreens Pharmacy

February 23, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to news from the Jersey Journal that our Baltimore, Maryland medication mistake attorneys have been following, a local Walgreens Pharmacy has made another pharmacy error, the second in six months, by erroneously filling an 18-month old child’s acetaminophen elixir medication, similar to Tylenol, with an acetaminophen product containing codeine, a powerful pain reliever.

After unknowingly giving her child a pharmacy misfill for a week, Jannette Jackson reportedly became alarmed when her daughter seemed groggy and tired and was not improving with the medication.

Jackson then discovered the pharmacy error and confronted Walgreens, who admitted the prescription mistake. Jackson claims that her pediatrician was shocked to hear of the error, and stated that luckily the codeine dosage was not lethal, and did not cause any allergic reaction or personal injury to the child.

In the previous medication error six months ago by same Walgreens Pharmacy, that our attorneys reported on in a related Baltimore prescription error blog, a two-year-old boy was prescribed a hydrocortisone prescription to treat his allergies. The pharmacy mistakenly gave the child an incorrect prescription for 10mg of oxycodone, a powerful pain medication that had been filled for another patient. The two-year-old child was reportedly given one of the Oxycodone pills, upon which the pharmacy error was discovered and the child was rushed to the hospital.

Prescription Pain Medication Error Due to Alleged Drug Theft

February 14, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland pharmacy error attorneys have been following the recent news story surrounding a prescription drug error that resulted from drug theft, leaving a man without proper pain medication management while undergoing a kidney stone surgery.

According to Fox-9 News, in November of 2010, Larry King checked into Abbot Northwestern Hospital for kidney stone removal surgery. King was reportedly told that the 30-minute operation would be painless. While receiving Fentanyl, a powerful pain relieving medication that according to a recent Baltimore medication error blog is 100 times more powerful than morphine, Sarah May Casareto, the nurse responsible for administrating his surgery pain medication, allegedly stole 300 micrograms from King’s pain dosage in order to take the drugs herself—telling him that he would have to deal with the pain because they couldn’t give him a lot of medication.

Casareto’s prescription pain medication error and drug theft was reportedly discovered by other medical professionals during the operation, after Casareto started exhibiting strange behavior, which allegedly included slurred speech, dropping syringes in the operating room, and falling asleep. When confronted with drug abuse and drug theft, the nurse allegedly still held four unlabeled syringes in her pocket. King has filed a criminal complaint against Casareto, who refused a drug test and immediately resigned after the incident.

As a result of the drug abuse incident, King reportedly felt an extremely high pain level during the surgery, and doctors eventually gave him additional medication to help him through the rest of the operation. He claimed to have filed criminal and possibly a civil case to make sure that other patients don’t experience the same painful medication error that he went through.

Keeping Accurate Health Records and Medication Lists Can Prevent Medical Errors

February 8, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog post, our Prince George’s County pharmacy error attorneys recently discussed the importance for individuals to communicate more effectively with their doctors and pharmacists, to promote the safe and effective use of drug therapy and reduce the risk of medication error.

Every year, according to research by the Institute of Medicine, 1.5 million people are injured by medication-related events. According to the APhA, an important step for medication error prevention is for individuals to carry accurate health records and current lists of prescription medication with them to show doctors and pharmacists that include the medications, the dosage, and the health conditions that the medication is treating.

The APhA claims that patient medication lists reduce the risk of medication duplication, incorrect dosages, pharmacy misfill, and other harmful drug side effects that could come from dangerous interactions. All patient allergies should also be clearly stated on the list, along with any other important information that could prevent medication error by providing emergency staff and pharmacists with important information that could be lifesaving.

The APhA also recommends that patients get to know their pharmacists, as next to doctors, pharmacists are the second most trusted medication experts and providers of healthcare needs.

In an earlier blog post our attorneys suggested other steps to take to reduce the risk of medication error injuries from pharmacy misfill or error:

Study Finds Small Doses of Drugs From Syringes Could Cause Medication Error in Children

February 4, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As our Baltimore County pharmacy error attorneys discussed in a recent blog, according to a recent study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), medical errors are a leading cause of personal injury and death in this country, and rates for possible adverse drug events were three times higher with children than adults in hospitals, with an even higher rate for infants in intensive care units.

In a new study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a report found that preparing small medication dosages from syringes for infants and children can be dangerously inaccurate and cause medication dosing errors.

According to the report, in administering potent drugs to young patients, small doses are often prepared from medication stock of less than 0.1 milliliter (mL) in size, but the current equipment used to administer the drug does not allow for the correct and accurate measuring of drug volumes that are less than 0.1 mL.

Dr. Christopher Parshuram, the author of the study, who works in the University of Toronto’s Department of Pediatrics and directs the University of Toronto Center for Patient Safety’s Pediatric Patient Safety Research, stated that medications regularly requiring small doses include narcotics and sedatives that are extremely powerful, such as morphine and fentanyl—both drugs that as our Maryland medication error attorneys have reported in a recent blog, have a high-risk for medication mistakes which could lead to patient injury or wrongful death.

FDA Reports on Fatal Morphine Oral Solution Medication Errors

January 26, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to a recent report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that our Washington D.C. medication error lawyers have been following, a morphine solution that was approved by the administration last year, has been linked to a series of morphine overdoses and deaths due to medication error—leading federal regulators to issue a warning and initiate a label change to prevent personal injury or death.

The FDA’s recent notification to the health care industry and consumers reported on the overdoses and deaths that have occurred as a result of morphine sulfate oral solution medication errors, most of which are linked to the high potency (100 mg per 5mL) product, where solutions ordered in milligrams (mg) were erroneously mistaken for milliliters (mL) of the drug, causing fatal overdoses.

When milligrams (mg) are misread and confused for milliliters (mL), the patient dosage could reportedly be as high as 20 times stronger than the dosage intended for the patient, which could result in a drug overdose. Other medication mistakes were reportedly caused by confusion in medication dosage, and understanding the morphine concentration in the oral solution.

As our medication mistake attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland have reported in a related blog, according to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM), 1.5 million people are injured by preventable medication errors every year, with 98,000 annual deaths from medical errors—7,000 of which are due to medication mistakes.

The morphine sulfate oral solution is manufactured by Roxane Laboratories, Inc., and is used to tread moderate to severe chronic and acute pain with patients who are opioid-tolerant. In a blog from this week, our attorneys discussed the danger associated with an incorrect administration of a powerful prescription pain medication and the prevalence of fatal medication overdoses with patients who are opioid-intolerant and are erroneously prescribed these medications.