06/05/2023
Causas de sobredosis accidental de medicamentos recetados
For victims of accidental prescription drug overdose and their families, it may be hard to understand how an accidental overdose can happen if the medication is administered directly by a medical professional or prescribed by a doctor and is taken properly.
Unfortunately, accidental prescription drug overdoses occur much too often. In some cases, the overdose is due to patient error – either the patient failed to take the medication properly or mixed the medication with other drugs without consulting their doctor. Other times, overdoses occur because of a medical error on the part of the physician, hospital, or pharmacy that is issuing the drug. In these cases, patients and their families can prevent others from harm by reporting the overdose to the proper agency, and by filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against the medical professional or entity responsible.
Common ways prescription drug overdoses occur due to medical error
Most commonly, accidental prescription overdoses occur in one of the following ways:
- The physician prescribed a medication that results in harm because the medication can’t be used by patients who have certain other conditions, such as kidney disease or heart problems;
- The physician prescribed a medication at the wrong dosage;
- The physician irresponsibly prescribed a potent drug, or at too high of a quantity (“pill mills”);
- The hospital gave the patient the wrong drug, or the wrong dosage of the correct drug;
- The physician or hospital failed to properly monitor the patient after administering the drug;
- The pharmacist made a mistake filling the prescription (the wrong medicine, the wrong dose, or the wrong instructions on proper use)
Remember that you can help prevent others from suffering a potentially lethal overdose by holding the negligent medical professional or hospital responsible through regulatory reporting (such as to the State Medical Board or Drug Enforcement Agency).
Although no amount of compensation can undo the loss of life and damage to your family, the Deuterman Law Group can help you explore a lawsuit to hold the negligent parties responsible. Our experienced attorneys can help recover funeral expenses, medical bills, pain and suffering, loss of wages, loss of companionship, and other damages.
