Harrisburg Medication Error Lawyer

There have been amazing advances in medicine throughout the past two and a half centuries, and there are now medications that can help to eliminate or reduce the severity of many illnesses. But although these new pharmaceutical wonders have the potential to be incredibly beneficial, they can actually be harmful, or even deadly, if they are administered in the wrong dose or given to a patient who should not receive them.

Causes of Medication Error

At first glance, it would seem that ensuring that medication errors do not happen would be a fairly easy task, but shortcomings in the systems and procedures in place throughout the American healthcare industry enable an alarming number of medication errors each year.

It is estimated that there are nearly 800,000 medication errors that result in injury to patients each year in the United States. Of those medication errors, more than 7,000 result in patient deaths in hospitals, and there may be thousands more that occur from other treatment facilities.

Light is often made of the illegible scrawl that doctors have, but it is a serious contributing factor of medication errors, as the nurses and pharmacists who have to interpret the writing are unable to accurately discern the dose or medication name. The situation is also aggravated by medication names that are in some way similar to one another, such as clonazepam and clonidine, or dopamine and dobutamine.

Contact Us

The improper administration of medication is almost always a clear example of medical malpractice, and you may be able to pursue legal action against the healthcare professionals whose negligence caused harm to you or your loved one. Contact the Harrisburg medication error lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., at 215-329-3511 to learn more about the legal options available to you.