Medication Errors
Monroe Medication Error Attorney
Medication Mistakes in Louisiana
Advances in medicine have led to the development of all types of medications designed to treat a wide range of injuries, illnesses, and conditions. While these medications serve to make our lives better, they also come with serious side effects and other potential dangers. Doctors, nurses, and specialists receive extensive training to ensure that they properly administer medications to patients—but they sometimes make mistakes, which can have devastating consequences.
If you suffered serious injuries or if your loved one died due to a medication error, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim. These are very complex cases; we encourage you to reach out to our Monroe medication error attorneys as soon as possible to discuss the specifics of your situation. In Louisiana, you only have one year to bring your claim—don’t wait until it is too late!
Contact Parker Alexander online or by phone at (318) 625-6262 today to speak to an experienced attorney about your potential medication error claim.
Common Medication Errors
Medication mistakes occur in a variety of settings, including hospitals, emergency rooms, pharmacies, doctor’s offices, dental offices, and more. These mistakes take many forms, but they nearly always result in serious consequences for the patient.
Some examples of relatively common medication errors include:
- Improper dosage, including underdosing and overdosing
- Administering the wrong medication to a patient
- Administering medication to the wrong patient
- Prescription errors, including filling the wrong medication
- Incorrect administration, such as administering a drug intravenously instead of orally
- Failing to take a patient’s medical history, including drug allergies, into account
- Poor follow-up care, including failing to provide appropriate instructions for self-administered medication
- Improper or inadequate monitoring of a patient following medication administration
These and other acts of negligence are commonly caused by poor communication between healthcare providers/departments, confusing medications with similar names, misreading prescriptions, and more. When substandard care leads to medication mistakes, injured patients and/or their family members can take legal action against the liable person or party.
Who Is Liable for Medication Mistakes?
Determining liability is an important—but very complex—aspect of your medication error claim. At Parker Alexander, we investigate what happened and evaluate all applicable evidence to determine who is liable for the error that caused your damages. In some cases, the liable party may be an individual medical provider and in others, it may be the individual’s employer or another large entity.
Depending on the specifics of a given situation, any of the following parties may be liable for a medication error:
- Doctors
- Pharmacists
- Pharmacy technicians
- Anesthesiologists
- Nurses
- Hospitals
- Emergency rooms
- Doctors’ offices
- Dental offices
Often, multiple parties share some of the blame. This is known as the “Swiss cheese model of error” due to the many holes in the system that allow these types of mistakes. For example, a doctor may prescribe the wrong medication, a pharmacist may fail to notice the mistake, and the patient may begin experiencing adverse drug effects. When the patient seeks medical attention for the adverse effects, the treating physician may fail to recognize the symptoms are related to the improper medication, and the patient may receive poor or inadequate follow-up care.
Put an Experienced Team on Your Side
Medication error cases are extremely complex. Proving that a medical provider failed to uphold the standard of acceptable care is often very challenging, but at Parker Alexander, we work with a team of medical professionals and other specialists who can serve as expert witnesses in your case. We have the experience, resources, and skills to aggressively and effectively advocate for you.
When you choose Parker Alexander, you don’t pay unless your result is favorable. We do not collect any attorneys’ fees unless/until we recover compensation for you, and there is no risk in speaking to one of our Monroe medication error lawyers about your case.
Call (318) 625-6262 or contact us online today to request a free, confidential consultation.
