About Pharmacy Malpractice – What You Need to Know
In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have been nearly constantly in the news due to the number of illnesses and deaths that have been attributed to dangerous prescription drugs. Likewise, medical malpractice cases involving surgical errors are generally high profile, attracting media and public attention alike. In the midst of these cases, however, an unfortunately common but highly dangerous form of malpractice – malpractice on the part of pharmacies and their employees – has gone relatively unnoticed.
Recently, ABC News, via its popular program 20/20, investigated 100 chain pharmacies and reported a “shocking” number of potentially dangerous pharmacy errors. Most of these errors were committed not by pharmacists but by technicians with minimal training, many of whom were still in high school. Although their work was supposed to be supervised and reviewed by pharmacists, this crucial oversight too often did not take place. As a result, many people were not properly warned of dangerous drug interactions or, in some cases, given the correct dosages. Nevertheless, many seemingly signed away their right to take legal action by signing waivers without reading them.
The most common pharmacy errors include the failure to recognize or to warn of potentially dangerous interactions between prescription drugs, improper dosages, misreading of a physician’s prescription, and delivery of the incorrect medication to a person. Such errors can have serious and even deadly consequences.
There are certain actions you can take to protect yourself from pharmacy errors. Don’t be afraid to ask your pharmacist questions, and to ask for clarification if an explanation doesn’t make sense. If the instructions on a bottle conflict with the instructions given to you by your doctor or with your own common sense, voice your concerns to your pharmacist. And if you are injured, or if someone you love is injured or tragically killed as the result of a pharmacy error, contact a personal injury and wrongful death attorney immediately for an evaluation of your case.