Do you suspect a healthcare provider mistakenly prescribed or administered you or a loved one the wrong medication? If you have any doubts, you should take your concerns seriously and not brush them off. The consequences of a doctor giving the wrong medication to a patient can be severe, sometimes even fatal.
Unfortunately, medication mistakes are more common than you may think. Every year, 7,000 to 9,000 people die in the United States because of medication errors, and hundreds of thousands have complications or bad reactions.
What should you do if a doctor prescribed the wrong medication? And what should you do if you find out that a hospital administered the wrong medication or dose? Keep reading to learn more about your options below.
What to Do If Doctor Prescribed Or Given The Wrong Medication?
If you suspect you have been prescribed or given the wrong medication or the wrong dose of medication, contact a medical professional immediately. You will need to find out whether and how you should stop taking the medication, whether you need a new prescription for the right medicine, and whether you need treatment for any side effects or other problems that taking the wrong drug caused.
Also, save any information about the prescription if it turns out wrong. You may need this if you decide to pursue legal action against the doctor.
What Legal Action Can You Take Against a Doctor Who Prescribed the Wrong Medication?
If your doctor prescribed the wrong medication, and the consequences of giving the wrong medication were that you were harmed, you may be able to sue the doctor for medical malpractice.
To win a medical malpractice case, you and your lawyer must show that the healthcare provider was negligent in administering or prescribing the wrong medication and that this negligence was why you or your loved one were harmed.
It is important to note that medication decisions can be complex, and not every mistake that a doctor or hospital makes will be considered negligent. Doctors will be considered negligent only when they fail to meet specific standards of their profession in deciding what drugs to prescribe. Therefore, proving medical negligence in prescribing or administering medication usually requires that your medical malpractice attorney consults with an expert medical witness.
Medication errors are not limited to prescriptions; sometimes, a patient receives the wrong medication, but it’s not the doctor’s fault. The pharmacist may have made a mistake in filling the prescription. In a hospital setting, a nurse or other healthcare provider who gave you the drug could have given you the wrong drug or the wrong amount. In these situations, you may be able to bring a malpractice lawsuit against the pharmacist or healthcare provider. Finally, a drug could have been improperly manufactured, so you should consider or bring a defective product lawsuit against the manufacturer.
Contact the Personal Injury Attorneys at Garmey Law
The lawyers in the medical malpractice team at Garmey Law have more than 60 years of combined experience fighting for patients’ rights harmed by medical malpractice. We have an outstanding track record of success. For a free consultation, call us at (207) 481-4683 or contact us online today.
