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:
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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.
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