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Pharmaceutical Errors: The Facts |
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Written by Jane O'Shea
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 09:26 |
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We're all aware of the fact you may have a medical negligence claim if you have suffered injury or allergy relating to a medical procedure, but were you aware that there are also cases where pharmaceutical errors have lead to a clinical negligence claim?
by JaneO'Shea
We're all aware of the fact you may have a medical negligence claim if you have suffered injury or allergy relating to a medical procedure, but were you aware that there are also cases where pharmaceutical errors have lead to a clinical negligence claim?
As with a medical error, an error when prescribing medication can lead to health defects such as illness, injury and in severe cases, death.
Pharmaceutical errors are made when there is a mistake in the medication given to you by a pharmacist. This error could be prescribing the wrong type of medication or advising the patient takes the wrong dose, and both types of mistake can have a negative effect on your health. Another type of error is when the patients GP has prescribed a certain medicine or dosage and then what the pharmacist gives is different.
A common situation in pharmaceutical errors is when medicines are prescribed without a doctor's prescription, such as allergy creams, cold tablets or drops. One case in Chester related to such an event. A woman who was experiencing some discomfort and dryness in the eye went to the pharmacist to get some drops and was given ear drops instead of eye drops. The packages of both were so similar that it was recommended that they be kept far apart in the pharmacy. The patient administered the ear drops to the eye assuming they were the eye drops she had requested and later suffered an allergic reaction.
At the time of being handed the medicine you may not realise a mistake has been made, and obviously as they are a professional we would all trust in their judgement, and may willingly take the wrong medicine or dosage. Luckily these mistakes do not always lead to a reaction or injury, but if you do find yourself a victim of this, then you may be eligible to claim for medical negligence.
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