41% of Fatal Medication Errors Involve Wrong Dosage

Taking the correct dosage of a drug can save your life. However, taking the incorrect dosage can take a life. Every year in the United States approximately 1.3 million people are injured due to medication errors. The FDA determined that 41% of the fatalities caused by medication error between 1993 and 1998 resulted when the patient took the wrong dosage. Half of these deaths involved patients over the age of 60.

A medication error is defined as any preventable event that results in the incorrect medication use or patient suffering harm while the medication is in the control of a healthcare professional. Drugs are considered in the control of healthcare professionals during the labeling, packaging, prescribing, ordering and dispensing process.

Common Mistakes Made in Medication Dosing

Taking the wrong dosage of the correct medication occurs for many reasons. The following are a few of the circumstances under which the wrong dosage might be dispensed:

  • The doctor intended to prescribe the right dosage, but mistakenly wrote the wrong dosage on the prescription.
  • The doctor wrote the right dosage on the prescription, but the pharmacy committed a transcription or interpretation error involving a zero when coding the information into the computer which resulted in 100 mg tablets being dispensed in stead of 10 mg tablets.
  • The doctor wrote the correct dosage on the prescription, but the pharmacy committed a transcription or interpretation error involving a decimal point when coding the information into the computer which resulted in 5 mg tablets being dispensed in stead of 0.5 mg tablets.
  • The doctor wrote the right dosage on the prescription with instructions to take 1 tablet three times a day, but the pharmacy mislabeled the prescription bottle which instructed the patient to 3 tablets one time a day.

If you or a loved one was harmed because of a medication dosing mistake then contact our medical malpractice attorneys today to schedule a free consultation. Pharmacy errors are preventable and companies need to be held accountable for their negligence. It is very important that you keep all receipts, pills, prescription bottles and packaging. These materials are important evidence that will help us bring a successful pharmacy negligence claim.

We offer a free, no-obligation legal consultation to help you understand your rights and the value of your case.

The Wrong Dose Can Do More Harm Than Good

A 2016 report from The Institute for Safe Medication Practices ISMP report concluded that most medication dispensing errors involving dosage errors occur with following class of drugs: opioid pain killers, antipsychotic medications, antibiotics, and insulin.

47% of the cases involving opioid drugs dealt with dispensing wrong dosage, 34% of the cases involving antibiotics dealt with dispensing the wrong dosage, 43% of the cases involving antipsychotics dealt with dispensing the wrong dosage and 53% of the cases involving insulin dealt with dispensing the wrong dosage.

Prescription errors involving insulin lead to harm in 31% of the cases, followed by opioids which resulted in harm 11% of the time.

Common Reasons For Medication Dosage Errors

Over 100 pharmacists were interview and asked to list the most common causes of medication errors. The following is a list of the most mentioned causes:

  • 21% listed being too busy as a cause,
  • 12% listed being short-staffed as a cause,
  • 11% said being subjected to time constraints was a cause,
  • 11% listed being overtired,
  • 9% said being interrupted while dispensing the medication was a cause,
  • 8.5% said mistaking similar sounding or similar looking medications.

Prescription Medication Dosing Error Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Initial Consultations Are Always Free – No Fee Unless We Recover For You

If you or a loved one experienced a medication injury or prescription overdose injury due to pharmacy negligence call our attorneys today to schedule a free consultation to find out if you are entitled to compensation. Our personal injury accident lawyers have years of experience bringing medical malpractice claims on behalf of clients that were injured due to no fault of their own. It is important to keep all prescription bottles, pills, store receipts, and pharmacy paperwork following a medication injury. We will need this information to build a case against the pharmacy and get you fair compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.

No matter where you are located, we are just a phone call away. Call our law offices today to schedule a free no-obligation case review and consultation at (508) 588-0422 or click the link below to use our Free Case Evaluation Form.

We offer a free, no-obligation legal consultation to help you understand your rights and the value of your case.

Prescription Medication Error Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Attorneys

Our knowledgeable and experienced Greater Boston accident claims and personal injury attorneys at The Law Offices of Gerald J. Noonan are available to assist clients throughout all of Southeast Massachusetts, including but not limited to Plymouth County including Brockton, Plymouth, Bridgewater, Marshfield, Hingham, Duxbury, Wareham, Abington, Rockland, Whitman, Hanson, Holbrook, Middleborough; Norfolk County including Quincy, Stoughton, Dedham, Weymouth, Braintree, Avon, Holbrook, Randolph, Canton, Sharon, Brookline, Franklin; Bristol County including New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, Attleboro, Mansfield, Westport, Dartmouth, Easton, Raynham, Lakeville, Norton; Cape Cod, Hyannis, Falmouth, Barnstable and the Greater Boston area including Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Everett, Lawrence, Lynn, Revere, Dorchester, Roxbury.