Last updated on July 24th, 2026 at 03:18 pm
If a doctor prescribed wrong medication to you or a loved one, or the wrong medication was provided, here is what you should do right away:
- Stop taking the medication if it is safe to do so, and call your doctor immediately.
- Call your pharmacy to confirm what was prescribed and why.
- Seek emergency care if you are having a serious reaction.
- Save the prescription bottle, packaging, and any paperwork.
- Document your symptoms and write down everything that happened.
- Report the error to the healthcare facility or the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
- Contact a medical malpractice attorney if you were harmed.
Prescription errors are far more common than most people realize. Between 7,000 and 9,000 Americans die every year from preventable medication errors. The FDA receives over 100,000 reports of medication errors annually. And prescribing mistakes alone account for nearly half of all medication errors across the healthcare system.
The consequences can be devastating – from allergic reactions and organ damage to death. If it happened to you, you are not alone, and you may have legal options.
Common Causes and Signs Your Doctor Prescribed the Wrong Medication
When we visit a doctor in Maine, we place our lives in their hands. We trust that their years of training will result in the correct diagnosis and the right treatment plan. Unfortunately, the system is not perfect. Research suggests that 75 percent of all medication errors are actually caused by distractions.
Doctors are often overworked and forced to see a high volume of patients in a single shift. In a busy office or a chaotic emergency room, it is remarkably easy for a physician to click the wrong drop-down menu on an electronic health record or misread a patient’s chart. While electronic prescribing has helped eliminate the “bad handwriting” trope, it has introduced new risks, such as selecting the wrong drug from a list of similar-sounding names.
According to FDA medication error reports, there are over 20,000 prescription drug products approved for marketing in the U.S. With that many options, the margin for error is slim. Common mistakes include:
- Dosing Errors: These are found in more than one-third of all prescription mistakes. A doctor might prescribe 100mg when they intended 10mg, or vice versa.
- Failure to Review Medical History: A physician might overlook a documented allergy or fail to check what other medications you are already taking.
- Drug-to-Drug Interactions: When a doctor prescribed wrong medication, it often conflicts with a drug the patient is already using, leading to toxic reactions.
Recognizing the Symptoms of a Medication Error
How do you know if you are the victim of a prescription mistake? Sometimes the signs are immediate and violent; other times, they are subtle and develop over weeks.
One of the most severe reactions to a wrong medication is anaphylaxis—a life-threatening allergic response that requires immediate intervention. However, you should also be on the lookout for signs of organ damage, such as yellowing of the skin (jaundice), extreme fatigue, or changes in urination.
A major red flag is if your symptoms do not improve or if you experience entirely new, unexpected side effects. If you feel “off” after starting a new regimen, we recommend using the National Library of Medicine’s Drug Information Portal to research the drug. You can check the manufacturer’s label to see if the drug’s common usage matches your diagnosis.
It is important to note that “off-label” use—where a doctor prescribes a drug for a condition not specifically approved by the FDA—is common and often legal.
Why a Doctor Prescribed the Wrong Medication
In our work representing “underdogs” across Maine, we see the same patterns emerging in malpractice cases. Prescription errors rarely happen in a vacuum. They are usually the result of systemic failures:
- Rushed Diagnoses: A physician may use a “prescribe and treat” method to move through appointments quickly, failing to perform the necessary due diligence.
- Patient Record Mix-ups: In a busy practice, a doctor might accidentally enter a prescription into the chart of the patient they saw before you.
- Inadequate Communication: If a doctor fails to communicate clearly with the nursing staff or the pharmacy, the wrong instructions can easily be passed along.
- Overworked Staff: Fatigue leads to cognitive slips. When a medical professional is on their 14th hour of a shift, their ability to catch a prescribing pitfall diminishes significantly.
Immediate Steps to Take After a Prescription Mistake
If you suspect your doctor prescribed wrong medication, your first priority is your physical health. Lawsuits can wait; your safety cannot.
First, contact a medical professional immediately. Do not simply stop taking a medication without advice, as some drugs (like certain antidepressants or blood pressure meds) can cause dangerous withdrawal symptoms if stopped abruptly. Call your doctor’s office and state clearly that you believe there has been a medication error.
Next, call your pharmacist. Pharmacists are the final “safety check” in the prescription chain. They can verify if the medication in the bottle matches what the doctor ordered and clarify the intended dosage. If you are experiencing severe symptoms like difficulty breathing or chest pain, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room in Portland or your local area immediately.
Once you are medically stable, we recommend reporting the error to the ISMP. Reporting these incidents helps the healthcare community identify dangerous trends and prevents the same mistake from happening to another patient. For more detailed guidance on the immediate aftermath, you can review our guide on what to do if a doctor prescribed the wrong medication.
How to Gather Evidence if a Doctor Prescribed the Wrong Medication
If you intend to seek compensation, the quality of your evidence will determine the success of your claim. In medical malpractice, the “burden of proof” is on the patient. You must prove that the error occurred and that it directly caused you harm.
- Save Everything: Keep the original prescription bottle, the box, the patient information leaflet, and even the pharmacy receipt. These contain lot numbers and dosage instructions that are vital pieces of evidence.
- Keep a Symptom Diary: Write down when you took the medication and exactly how you felt afterward. Note the time, the duration of symptoms, and any missed work days.
- Request Medical Records: You have a legal right to your records. This includes the doctor’s notes from your visit and the electronic “audit trail” of the prescription.
- Document Communications: If the doctor or a nurse admits to a mistake over the phone or in person, write down exactly what was said, who said it, and when.
Understanding the 5 types of medical negligence can help you categorize how the error fits into a legal framework, whether it was a failure to warn or a direct prescribing error.
Is Prescribing the Wrong Medication Considered Medical Malpractice?
Not every medical mistake is considered malpractice. To win a case, we must prove that the doctor or other healthcare provider deviated from the “standard of care.” This is defined as the level of care and skill that a reasonably competent health care professional, with a similar background and in the same medical community, would have provided under the same circumstances.
At Garmey Law, we focus on what you need to know about suing for medical malpractice. The heart of the case is “causation.” It isn’t enough to show the doctor made a mistake; we must show that the mistake is what caused your injury. If you took the wrong pill but suffered no ill effects, you likely do not have a viable malpractice claim. However, if that pill caused a heart attack or permanent kidney damage, the doctor may be held liable for the avoidable harm. Before filing any suit or claim, we speak with experts early on to investigate whether a claim is viable and to make sure the right team is aboard before any claim is filed.
Proving Liability When a Doctor Prescribed the Wrong Medication
Determining who is at fault can be complicated. While the doctor writes the script, the error might have happened elsewhere. We look at the entire chain of care:
- The Doctor: Did they fail to check your allergies? Did they misdiagnose you?
- The Hospital: If the error happened during an inpatient stay, the hospital itself might be liable for systemic failures or overworked staff. You can learn more about suing a hospital vs. a doctor.
- The Pharmacist: If the doctor wrote the correct prescription but the pharmacist filled it with the wrong drug or the wrong dose, the pharmacy is responsible.
- The Nurse: In a hospital setting, nurses are responsible for the “administration” of drugs. If they give the drug to the wrong patient or at the wrong rate via IV, they may be liable.
- The Manufacturer: If the drug itself was tainted or the packaging was inherently misleading, it might be a product liability case against the pharmaceutical company.
Seeking Compensation and Legal Recourse
When we take on a case at Garmey Law, we are fighting for your future. A serious medication error can leave you with lifelong medical bills and an inability to return to work. We pursue various types of compensation, known as “damages,” to make you whole.
Economic Damages include:
- Medical Expenses: This covers the cost of the ER visit to fix the error, ongoing rehabilitation, and any future care you might need.
- Lost Income: If you missed weeks of work or can no longer perform your job duties because of the injury, you are entitled to those lost wages.
Non-Economic Damages include:
- Pain and Suffering: This compensates you for the physical pain and emotional distress caused by the error.
- Punitive Damages: In rare cases where the negligence was particularly reckless, a court may award punitive damages to punish the provider and deter others.
It is important to understand that medical malpractice cases are among the costliest to pursue. Between expert witness fees and the complexity of medical litigation, the costs to take a case to trial often is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is why we provide a free consultation to evaluate the strength of your claim and ensure it meets the necessary thresholds for a successful outcome.
Our team at Garmey Law specializes in medical malpractice and handles these cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you don’t pay us unless we win for you.
Frequently Asked Questions about Prescription Errors
How long do I have to file a medical malpractice lawsuit?
It depends where the negligence occurred. Maine’s statute of limitations is relatively unforgiving, and almost all claims must be filed within three years of the negligent act giving rise to the claim. In other places, the “discovery rule” applies. This means the clock might not start ticking until the moment you realized (or should have realized) that you were harmed by a medication error. However, there is often an absolute “statute of repose” that cuts off all claims after a certain number of years, regardless of when the error was found. Because these rules are strict and unforgiving, you should contact an attorney as soon as you suspect a mistake.
Can I sue if the medication error didn’t cause permanent harm?
Technically, yes, but practically, it depends on the extent of your “damages.” If a doctor prescribed wrong medication and you spent a night in the hospital with nausea but fully recovered the next day, the cost of a lawsuit might far outweigh the potential settlement.
Attorneys typically look for a “damages threshold.” If your medical bills, lost wages, and suffering don’t reach a certain level, it may be difficult to find a firm to take the case on a contingency basis; the cost of expert witness would eat away any recovery ultimately going to you. However, if the “temporary” harm was significant—such as a week in the ICU or a painful reaction that required surgery—you might have a valid claim.
Who is responsible if the pharmacist filled the wrong dose?
This is a common scenario. If the doctor’s prescription was correct but the pharmacist made a “dispensing error,” the liability shifts to the pharmacy. This could involve:
- Mechanical Errors: The pharmacist grabbed the wrong bottle from the shelf.
- Labeling Errors: The instructions on the bottle don’t match the doctor’s orders.
- Failure to Consult: Pharmacists have a professional duty to catch obvious errors (like a dose that is clearly lethal) and to counsel patients on new medications.
In some cases, liability is shared. If the doctor’s handwriting was illegible and the pharmacist “guessed” rather than calling to clarify, both parties may share the blame.
Ready to Protect Your Rights? Contact the Attorneys at Garmey Law
Discovering that a doctor prescribed wrong medication is a frightening experience. It shatters the trust you have in the medical system and leaves you feeling vulnerable. But you don’t have to face the aftermath alone.
At Garmey Law, we are proud to represent the “underdogs.” Whether you are in Portland, Brunswick, or Kennebunkport, our team is dedicated to providing aggressive, compassionate advocacy for those harmed by medical negligence. We have the resources to take on large hospitals and insurance companies, ensuring that our clients receive the verdicts and settlements they need to rebuild their lives.
If you or a loved one has suffered because of a prescription error, don’t wait for the statute of limitations to expire. Contact our medical malpractice attorneys for a free consultation today. We will listen to your story, evaluate your evidence, and help you determine the best path forward to protect your rights and your future.