Medication Errors, Mistakes, Negligence and Malpractice Attorneys
Serving Kansas City, Independence, Blue Springs & Lee’s Summit
Medication errors often occur in Missouri hospitals or under the care of physicians or other healthcare providers who make mistakes in prescribing or administering drugs. When a medication error occurs and causes you or someone you love to suffer harm, you may be able to take legal action against those responsible for the error.
The Horn Law Firm, P.C., can assist you in investigating your claim and in recovering full and fair compensation for all of your losses caused by the medication mistake.
We can review the medical records in your case, consult with highly qualified medical experts and take other steps to determine how the error occurred in your case. If we believe pursuing a case would be beneficial to you, we can aggressively seek a verdict or settlement on your behalf.
Our initial consultations and case evaluations are always free and confidential. To speak directly with a lawyer about your case today, simply give us a call or submit our online form.
How Medication Errors Happen
When medication errors happen, patients may experience adverse side effects, including:
- Liver damage
- Dangerous bleeding
- Poisoning
- Overdoses
- Addiction
- Drug-induced delirium
- Falls
- Dangerous drug interactions
In some cases, these medication errors can cause permanent injury or a life-threatening emergency. In other instances, the medication errors can be fatal.
With the stakes so high and the potential injury so severe, it is difficult to believe that medication errors are as common as they are. Unfortunately, there are many reasons that medication errors occur in hospitals, nursing homes and under the care of physicians.
As we investigate your case, the Horn Law Firm will determine if one of the common causes of medication errors arose in your case, such as:
- Hard-to-read prescriptions – Illegible handwriting is one of the top causes of medication errors. Only around 12 percent of hospitals are currently making use of computerized systems to prescribe or fill medication orders, which makes these hard-to-read prescription errors common.
- Failure to fight dangerous drug interactions – Insufficient information about patients can lead to drugs being prescribed that interact dangerously with other medication the patient is taking.
- Drugs with similar names – There are more than 1,000 different medications that have similar sounding names that are commonly confused.
- Drug labeling and packaging problems – A high percentage of medication errors and deaths related to medication mistakes are caused by labeling and packaging problems.
- >Prescribing off-label medications – Doctors routinely prescribe drugs to patients to treat conditions different than those the medications have been approved for. In many cases, drug manufacturers encourage this. Unfortunately, this means that the drugs may not be adequately tested for the individual or condition they are prescribed for, and dangerous side effects can develop.
- Accidental overdoses – When a nurse or healthcare provider administers a drug, the healthcare provider could make a mistake in the dosage, such as administering 100 mg of a medication instead of 10 mg. This could lead to a dangerous overdose or to a patient being poisoned.
- Delays in administering medication or a failure to provide a required drug – When patients are in a hospital or nursing home, they are often dependent upon nurses or hospital staff to give them their medications. If a dose is forgotten or if a patient doesn’t receive essential medication, this could have serious and lasting health consequences.
These are all examples of careless decisions and actions on the part of healthcare providers. If any of these errors occurred in your case, an attorney from the Horn Law Firm can work closely with you on seeking a recovery for any harm that you have suffered.
A Missouri Medication Error Lawyer Can Help
If you or a loved one is hurt as a result of a medication error, you have the right to take action. You will need to prove that the doctor, nurse, hospital, pharmacist or other healthcare provider acted unreasonably in some way or breached his/her professional duty to provide you with competent and professional care. You will also need to show that you were harmed as a direct result of this medical negligence.
Getting early legal advice and representation from a skilled and experienced medical malpractice attorney could be crucial in establishing your case.
As Horn Law Firm, P.C., investigates your case, we will determine not only how the medication error may have occurred in your case but also all of the parties who may be responsible for the mistake. We will be thorough in evaluating your claim and follow an approach that has helped numerous clients in the past to secure positive results.
To get started on your case if you or a loved one was harmed by medical error, contact the Horn Law Firm, P.C., today by phone or through our convenient online form. We can schedule a free consultation and case evaluation and let you know how we can help with your medication error claim.
