Prescription and Medication Errors
Las Vegas Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Perhaps the most common form of medical malpractice in Las Vegas involves medication and prescription errors. In many cases, patients suffer serious injuries and medical complications simply because their doctor or nurse didn’t take the time to perform a quick check.
The Law Offices of Steven M. Burris is dedicated to the rights of injury victims, and proudly represents individuals who have suffered due to medical malpractice. When you retain our firm, you can expect dedicated counsel from an attorneys who truly care about helping you and your family recover and move forward.
You deserve fair compensation for the harm you have experienced. Contact us by calling (702) 529-3101 to learn how we can help.
Common Types of Medication Errors
Medication errors are alarmingly common in hospitals nationwide, and doctors, nurses, and pharmacists can all be the cause of these dangerous mistakes. The Las Vegas medical malpractice attorneys at the Law Offices of Steven M. Burris have more than 40 years of experience with these complex personal injury claims and understand how to effectively pursue results on behalf of our clients.
These errors tend to fall into the following categories:
- Drug interactions – The more drugs that are prescribed to someone, the greater the chance for a deadly interaction. It takes only a minimum effort of a few seconds on a computer to see if the drugs being prescribed have dangerous interaction potential. Unfortunately, this is not commonly done, and patients oft times end up paying the price, sometimes with their lives.
- Wrong amounts/clerical errors – Nurses and pharmacists will often misread a prescription – for example, providing 5mg pills instead of .5mg pills. Doctors and nurses can also make mistakes while calculating the amount of a medication, often putting decimals in the wrong place.
- Ignoring or mis-charting drug allergies – It is still not uncommon for a patient to report an allergy, then, be given that drug by a nurse or physician who did not read the chart. Patients who are asleep or unconscious cannot communicate, so the allergy must be clearly written down and displayed for all to see.
- Being given another patient’s meds – In hospitals, it happens more often than we think that a nurse will give a prescription that was supposed to go to the patient “x” to patient “y” who is in the next bed over.
Have you or a loved one suffered at the hands of a negligent medical professional? Call the firm today to schedule a free case evaluation!