Can a Pharmacist be Sued for Medical Malpractice?

 Posted on March 18, 2022 in Medical Malpractice

We tend to trust that when we go to the pharmacy to pick up our prescription medication, we will be given the correct prescription that is safe for us to take. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Pharmacists can make errors just like doctors and nurses can. Medication errors can have serious repercussions. Taking the wrong medication or the wrong combination of medications can cause serious reactions. People can become seriously ill or even die as a result of a pharmacy error. If your pharmacist made a mistake and you were harmed by it, you may be able to hold them liable for medical malpractice. If you believe that you have been harmed by a pharmacy mix-up, your first step should be to speak to a lawyer.

What Types of Pharmacy Errors Can Cause Harm?

It can sometimes be difficult to identify a pharmaceutical error as the source of a medical problem. More serious errors can cause sudden illness that requires emergency care, in which case it may be somewhat obvious what happened. Other errors are more insidious and can cause gradual harm over time that is not discovered until much later. Common harmful pharmacy errors include: 

• Wrong medication - This is one of the more egregious errors. When a pharmacist inadvertently gives a patient the wrong medication entirely, it can cause very serious effects. Additionally, the patient might be further harmed by not having the condition the original prescription was for appropriately treated. 

• Wrong dose - In this type of error, the patient is given the correct medication, but the wrong dose. This can lead to a patient taking too much or too little of their medication. 

• Inaccurate instructions - Getting a prescription with inaccurate instructions can be just as dangerous as getting the wrong dose. Instruction errors can include mistakes like telling a patient to take more or less of the drug than they actually need or telling the patient to take the drug at the wrong time or in the wrong way. For example, some medications cannot be crushed and added to food. If the patient is errantly told that this method of taking the drug is acceptable, the medicine may not work. 

• Interactions - Some medications absolutely cannot be mixed. Pharmacists are expected to check and make sure that any new prescription will not conflict with existing ones. 

• Allergy - If the pharmacy is aware of a patient's allergies and fills a prescription the patient is known to be allergic to, the consequences can be serious. 

Call a Cook County Medical Malpractice Attorney 

Adler Law Offices, LTD is committed to helping those who have been harmed by medical malpractice in any form. Our Mount Prospect medical malpractice lawyers are skilled at investigating and proving pharmacy errors. Call 312-236-2700 for a free consultation. 

Source:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519065