Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

Medication Errors, Although Under Reported, Are Still a Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.

March 1, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Medical professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, are human, and as a result, it is expected that they will, on occasion, make mistakes. This does not mean that they are bad people or have a malicious intent behind their actions; the vast majority of medical errors are results of a system that places too heavy a burden on medical professionals.

Putting aside the lack of intent to cause harm, the reality is that Maryland pharmacy errors do cause a significant number of patients to suffer serious injuries each year. According to a recent study by Johns Hopkins University, there are over 250,000 pharmacy errors each year. However, according to a recent news report discussing the new study, the actual rate of pharmacy errors may be much higher than originally thought.

The reason for the potential disparity, the article claims, is the manner in which physicians, funeral directors, coroners, and medical examiners fill out death certificates. Evidently, it is common practice to use broad categories when referring to someone’s cause of death. This, in effect, groups preventable medical errors that were results of human or computer errors in with other non-preventable causes of death. As a result, the reported instances of preventable pharmacy errors are difficult to determine.

Medication Overdoses Caused by Prescription Errors

February 22, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When a pharmacist gives a patient the wrong medication, or the incorrect dose of the proper medication, the patient can be put in great danger. The range of medical issues that can result from a Maryland pharmacy error is broad, but the most common problems that arise after a pharmacy error are adverse reactions and overdoses.

Many prescription medications are controlled for the very reason that they interact negatively with a large number of other medications – both prescription and over-the-counter. Other medications are controlled due to the fact that they require a very precise dosage to be effective. If these medications are provided in excess strength, the patient may suffer an overdose that can potentially be fatal.

Of course, pharmacists are responsible to correctly fill patients’ prescriptions. And while pharmacists cannot normally be held criminally liable for their errors, injured patients and their families may be able to pursue a claim for financial compensation from the pharmacist as well as their employer. These pharmacy error lawsuits, however, can be complex due to the scientific issues that arise when attempting to prove that a pharmacist’s error was the cause of the patient’s injuries.

Pre-Trial Settlements in Pharmacy Error Cases

February 15, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When a pharmacist provides a patient with the wrong medication, and the patient suffers harm as a result of the pharmacist’s error, the patient may be entitled to monetary compensation though a Maryland pharmacy error lawsuit. However, while these cases seem to present straightforward and easily identifiable issues, in practice, pharmacy error cases can be extremely complex. Most often, these complexities arise when attempting to establish causation.

Some pharmacy error cases, however, are straightforward, and liability is more easily established. When this is the case, it is more likely that the defendant pharmacy will opt to settle the case out of court rather than take the case to trial.

Regardless of the specific facts at issue, pre-trial settlements can help both sides in a Maryland personal injury case. For one, settlement agreements allow for each side to know exactly what the outcome of the case will be without the uncertainty of having a trial. This allows for pharmacies to more accurately gauge what their liabilities will be and allows for the victims to have a firm grasp on how much compensation they will receive for their injuries. In addition, pre-trial settlements can result in the efficient resolution of a case, often saving months, if not years. For these reasons, among others, it is estimated that approximately 95% of all civil cases result in the parties settling the case out of court.

The Importance of Adequate Warnings on Prescription Medications in Maryland

February 8, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Manufacturers of pharmaceutical drugs – like other products – are responsible for the products they market and release to the public. Some drugs pose a serious health risk due to potential negative interactions with other commonly taken medications, other medications are easily abused and can lead to dependence or addiction, and many pharmaceuticals can have serious side effects when taken improperly.

In general, the manufacturer of a medication is responsible to include an adequate warning, fully disclosing the risks involved with taking the medication. If a drug manufacturer fails to include an adequate warning with their product, they may be held liable for any injuries caused to those who take the medication through a Maryland product liability lawsuit.

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Recent Pharmacy Error Causes Patient “Horrendous” Symptoms

February 1, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription drugs are controlled by the government for good reason. For many drugs, it is because the active substance contained in the drug that can help cure a patient’s ailment may have a dangerous interaction when taken with a common medication. Other medications are controlled due to their sensitive dosage instructions, potential for abuse and addiction, or nasty side effects.

It doesn’t come as a surprise, then, that patients can suffer serious injuries or even death following a Maryland pharmacy error. In such cases, the patient may be able to obtain compensation for their injuries through a Maryland pharmacy error lawsuit. These lawsuits are often complex, and more often than not they rely on expert witness testimony to establish liability. The most common topic on which experts are needed is establishing that the plaintiff’s injury was related to their ingestion of the mis-filled medication.

According to a recent news report, one man became seriously ill after being provided the wrong medication by the local pharmacy where he had refilled his prescriptions for the past 14 years. Evidently, the man’s physician had written him a prescription to help with his insomnia, but the man was given another drug that is used to treat high blood pressure. The two medications have similar names.

Major U.S. City Takes Steps to Reduce Pharmacy Errors

January 22, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland medical errors – including misfilled prescriptions – are one of the leading causes of death in the state and across the country. Indeed, a 2016 study by Johns Hopkins concluded that, if properly tracked, medical errors would be the third-leading cause of death in the United States. However, due to the fact that the law allows for voluntary reporting of most errors, many Maryland pharmacy errors go unreported.

According to a recent industry news report, Chicago is taking affirmative steps to combat the growing number of pharmacy errors. The city’s actions follow a report by a local paper indicating that of the 25 pharmacies surveyed, over 50% committed at least one error. The city’s attempts are premised on the longstanding and verified belief that the more prescriptions a pharmacist fills per shift, the higher is the chance that the pharmacist will make a medication error in the type, dose, or administration of a drug.

In an attempt to reduce future errors, Chicago lawmakers have proposed a number of pharmacy regulations. For example, one proposed regulation limits the total number of prescriptions a pharmacist can fill by hour to 10. Another regulation requires that pharmacists who have been working in excess of eight hours notify patients as they fill their prescription. Lawmakers have also proposed that pharmacists be required to take one 30-minute lunch break and several 15-minute breaks per eight-hour shift.

Court Discusses Potential Scope of Liability Against Brand-Name Drug Manufacturer in Case Involving Generic Medication

January 15, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Under Maryland product liability law, the manufacturer of a product has a duty to ensure that the product does not present any unreasonable risk of harm to the consumer when the product is used for its intended purpose. Additionally, product liability law also generally applies a blanket of strict liability over all parties in the product’s chain of distribution. This means that any party in the chain of distribution may be liable for a plaintiff’s injuries caused by the product without a showing that the party was negligent.

When discussing the liability of a pharmaceutical manufacturer that allegedly created a dangerous drug, some specific rules apply. For example, in a recent case, the court discusses whether a brand-name manufacturer can be potentially liable in a case involving a plaintiff’s injuries that arose after consumption of a bioequivalent generic medication. Ultimately, the court concluded that the brand-name manufacturer could be held liable under the state’s product liability laws, and it dismissed the defendant manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiffs were two children born with serious developmental delays by the time they turned three, and they were later diagnosed with autism by the age of five. During delivery, the plaintiffs’ mother was given the generic equivalent of the medication Brethine to suppress premature delivery. The plaintiffs were born full-term but later experienced what they claim to be the side effects of the medication.

Court Affirms Verdict in Favor of Doctor After Child Experiences Developmental Delays

January 8, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription errors can have lasting effects for Maryland patients. In a recent case, the parents of a two-month-old child brought a lawsuit against a doctor, alleging that the doctor improperly treated their child with the drug Reglan.

According to the court’s opinion, the child was referred to the pediatric gastroenterologist doctor for gastrointestinal issues, and the doctor diagnosed him with severe gastroesophageal reflux disease. The doctor continued to see the child for about a year and a half, and he prescribed him different medications, including Reglan. Reglan is normally recommended for a maximum of 12 weeks, except in cases in which the benefits outweigh the risks. The doctor later testified that he believed the benefits outweighed the risks in this case, and he attempted to wean the child off the drug, but his symptoms would reappear when he did so.

About a year and a half after his diagnosis, the child’s mother began noticing problems with the child’s development, including standing, balancing, and developmental delays. After she heard about the side effects of Reglan on a commercial, she brought up her concerns to the child’s primary care doctor. The gastroenterologist doctor subsequently told the primary care doctor to stop the Reglan prescription, due to the mother’s concerns.

Experts Hope a Bottle’s Label Design Can Decrease Prescription Errors

January 2, 2018 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Prescription medications are controlled by the government for good reason. Indeed, many prescription drugs are dangerous substances that are only approved for use under strict conditions for very specific applications. It may be that a prescription drug negatively interacts with other commonly consumed medications, or that the medication itself easily leads to dependency and addiction. The bottom line is that prescription medication can be dangerous, and pharmacists and manufacturers should take all steps necessary to prevent Maryland pharmacy errors.

One of the most important tools pharmacists can use to decrease the chance of a serious or fatal prescription error is to make sure that the label affixed to the prescription is correct and written in plain English so that the patient can understand the directions. According to a recent news report, experts have been studying the impact that label design has on a patient’s likelihood of experiencing an error. The study found that patients are experiencing errors even with properly filled medications due to confusing medication labels.

For example, the article discusses a situation in which a woman was prescribed a patch containing pain medication to help with her arthritis. The label indicated the woman should apply the patch when she feels pain, but it did not specify how many patches to use at one time. The woman’s family later discovered that she had been using the pain patches all over her body, effectively overdosing on the medication contained in the patch.

Recent Study Shows Hospital Pharmacy Errors Decrease with More Pharmacist Involvement

December 22, 2017 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While many Maryland pharmacy errors occur at the thousands of retail pharmacies across the state, a large portion of the state’s overall pharmacy errors still occur in medical settings, such as hospitals, rehab facilities, and nursing homes. In fact, according to a recent study, some hospital patients’ medical records reveal as many as seven pharmacy errors. Of course, while not all of these are clinically significant, the trend is still disturbing.

Due to the number of pharmacy errors across the nation, as well as the potential that these errors can result in serious injuries or death, researchers have undertaken renewed efforts to discover new methods to decrease the rate of pharmacy errors. One place researchers are focusing their efforts is on patients who take a large number of prescription medications, based on the assumption that this population is at the greatest risk of experiencing an error.

According to a recent study, when pharmacists, rather than medical staff, take a patient’s history, the number of errors in subsequent prescriptions is drastically reduced. The way that many hospitals operate is that the job of entering a patient’s history belongs to anyone who works with the patient. While this may sound effective in that numerous medical professionals are reviewing a patient’s history, the result is that no single person feels accountable. However, when a single pharmacist is given the task of entering a patient’s history, that pharmacist is the sole person accountable, and as a result, the instances of errors drastically decrease.