Common Errors

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.

USP Advisory Panel Pushes for Prescription Label Standardization

July 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the misuse of medication results in over one million adverse drug events every year. In a recent blog, our attorneys discussed the current efforts made by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) to establish a universal standard for prescription drug labels and instructions, by issuing a series of recommendations in order to add more consistency to prescription labeling—to reduce medication errors that can result in personal injury or wrongful death.

The USP is a Maryland-based nonprofit organization that issues standards that are legally enforceable for the quality, strength, and purity of medicines in this country. In 2007, the USP developed the Health Literacy and Prescription Container Labeling Advisory Panel to examine the different ways prescription drug labeling could be improved.

The IOM claims that health literacy affects ninety million adults, who are unable to benefit properly from the health care due to a lack of understanding of drug instructions and information about medication interactions. After the IOM called for new drug label standards, the USP panel recently released recommendations that are based on patient well being, and health literacy—as bad health literacy can cause medication errors, and increase the potential for heath risks and personal injury.

According to Joanne G. Schwartzberg, co-chair of the panel, standardizing the medication labels can markedly improve the health and safety of patients, by providing reliable, simple and straightforward information. The USP panel recommendations cover the appearance, content, format and languages on prescription labels, in an effort to optimize patient understanding, and eliminate medication error and misuse.

Woman Sues Walgreens for Seizure Medication Pharmacy Error

July 14, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyers have been following, a Texas woman filed a lawsuit against Walgreens last week, claiming that a pharmacist mislabeled her medication—a mistake the woman claims, that could have caused her wrongful death.

According to Jessica Soliz, a Walgreens pharmacist made a major pharmacy error when labeling her prescription for seizure medication. After Soliz picked up her prescription drugs from the pharmacy and began taking them, she reportedly became very ill. The prescription error wasn’t discovered until a nurse looked at the label, and realized that prescription was mislabeled to read that each pill contained 25 milligrams of Lamictal, when in fact each pill in the bottle contained 100 milligrams or the drug.

According to the FDA, the most common medication errors are due to wrong doses, incorrect drugs, or the incorrect administration of drugs. The Institute of Medicine reports that there are around 1.5 million medication error injuries that happen every year, with at least 7,000 deaths.

In Soliz’s case, Walgreens responded that they were sorry that this pharmacy error occurred. They stated that they take pharmacy safety seriously, and are constantly working to improve the quality, accuracy and service of all pharmacy orders, to prevent pharmacy error injury or wrongful death.

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.

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.

Patient Sues Wal-Mart Pharmacy for Prescription Mix-Up

May 31, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent lawsuit that our Maryland Pharmacy Error Injury Attorneys have been following, a Wal-mart pharmacy is being accused of giving a Texas resident another patient’s prescription—a pharmacy mistake that reportedly led to personal injuries and physical suffering.

According to the lawsuit, when Joseph Nini picked up his prescription at the Wal-Mart Pharmacy on March 25, 2008, he was given another patient’s medication by the pharmacist on duty, Cindy Lee Carranza.

Nini, a 77-year old Jasper County resident, claims that after taking the incorrect medication, he had to go to the hospital, as the medication made him ill and caused him to endure personal injuries as well physical pain, mental anguish, and physical impairment.

Wal-mart and Carranza are being accused of being responsible for causing his injuries, as Nini claims that they negligently failed to dispense the proper medication, failed to comply with the pharmacy policies put into place to prevent pharmacy misfills and the accidental dispensing of medication to the wrong patient, and failed to contact him or properly communicate with him when the pharmacy discovered that he had been given the wrong medication.

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.

The Problem of Prescription Language Translations in Pharmacies

May 17, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Pharmacy Misfill Attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland recently posted a blog that discussed the epidemic of prescription error stemming from poor language translations in pharmacies across the country—causing pharmacy misfill and medication errors that could lead to patient injury.

In a study that our attorneys discussed, published in the May issue of Pediatrics, researchers found that pharmacies using labels that have been translated into Spanish with a computer program often provide inaccurate or confusing drug instructions filled with medication errors—often delivered in a mix of English and Spanish or “Spanglish.” The study looked at 76 labels for prescriptions generated by 13 different pharmacy translation computer programs, and there was a reported error rate of 50 percent.

Dr. Alejandro Clavier, a doctor in Chicago told the Chicago Tribune that he experiences translation issues with his patients in his practice every day. In one example, a patient who suffers from anemia was not improving after taking the iron supplements that Clavier prescribed. Clavier found that the patient had only been taking one drop of the iron supplement—not the stronger dosage Clavier prescribed. The patient had reportedly received instructions from the pharmacy that were confusing and hard to understand.

According to a study performed by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, many pharmacies in four states with a large and growing Latino population are unable to even provide translations for prescriptions. The 2009 study found that nearly 35 percent of the pharmacies surveyed did not even offer translations services, and 22 percent offered pharmacy translations that were limited.

Electronic Prescriptions and the Path to Preventing Medication Errors

April 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In yesterday’s blog, our pharmacy error attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland, discussed the rapidly growing numbers of doctors switching from hand-written prescriptions to electronic prescriptions—to create a more efficient system that helps to prevent medication errors in every step of the prescribing and pharmacy process.

The Wall Street Journal documented an example of possible prescription error with 59-year old Debbie Kenny, who was prescribed a new hypertension medication by her doctor that had just become available at the end of last year. Unknown to both Kenny and her doctor, the medication had the potential to interfere with her asthma—a dangerous side effect. Kenny consequently had trouble breathing after coming down with a cold, still not understanding the side effects of the medication.

After Kinney’s doctor started to e-prescribe the following month, the new electronic system indicated very clearly that Kinney should not be taking that particular hypertension drug, because of her asthma, and the drug’s side effects. She was promptly switched to another medication for hypertension that was compatible with her asthma. Kinney said that she feels more comfortable now with the new electronic system. If her doctor prescribes a new drug, she can ask for a clear computerized diagram of the side effects or the drug interactions before taking the medication—to avoid any personal injury.

As of last year, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was helping to promote the switch to electronic prescribing by enticing doctors and paying them a bonus for e-prescribing. As of the beginning of 2012, a stronger encouragement will appear, as CMS will begin penalizing doctors who haven’t embraced the electronic system to issue patient’s prescriptions.