West Palm Beach, FL – In 2010, more than 3.9 billion prescriptions were filled at chain drugstores like Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid and Wal-Mart. At least 1.9 million people became sick, were injured or were killed each year by errors in prescribing, dispensing and taking medications, according to a 2008 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This number could be higher as most pharmacies do not report prescription errors as the federal government and most states do not have laws requiring them to do so.
Some of the common causes of medication and prescription errors include:
- Incomplete patient information (not knowing about patients’ allergies, other medicines they are taking, previous diagnoses, and lab results)
- Unavailable drug information (such as lack of up-to-date warnings)
- Miscommunication of drug orders (between doctor and pharmacist), which can involve poor handwriting, confusion between drugs with similar names and look, confusion of generic alternative of a prescribed brand name, misuse of zeroes and decimal points, confusion of metric and other dosing units, and inappropriate abbreviations
- Lack of appropriate labeling as a drug is prepared and repackaged into smaller units (dispensing wrong medication or wrong dosage)
- Environmental factors (lighting, heat, noise, and interruptions) that can distract health professionals from their medical tasks
With mistakes so prevalent at pharmacies and in hospitals, how do you protect yourself from errors? The AHRQ offers a few tips that consumers can use to lower the chance of prescription or medication errors:
- When your doctor writes a prescription for you, make sure you can read it
- When you pick up your medicine from the pharmacy, ask the pharmacist if this is the medicine that your doctor prescribed
- Open the bag containing your medication container and make sure the medicine matches your prescription and your name is on the container
- Make sure you understand how to properly take the medication and read the drug labels. Ask your pharmacist about how much medication to take, when and whether you should expect to experience any side effects. To learn more about the medications you are taking the effects, visit Public Citizen’s Worst Pills, Best Pills website.
- Keep a list of all medication you are taking whether prescribed or over the counter (including vitamins). Include the drug’s name, doctor, reason for taking the medication, dosage, any drug side effects, how you take the drug, etc. Keep this list up-to-date and with you during an medical checkup or with you when you visit your doctor.
Many of these errors can be avoided. The law office of Murray Guari reminds you to take the necessary steps to make protect yourself and be proactive in your care. Do not be afraid to ask your doctor or pharmacist questions. If you have additional questions regarding medication errors or prescription errors and your legal rights, please contact us at 561-366-9099.
The personal injury law firm of Murray Guari Trial Attorneys PL was founded in 2005. The firm is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, at 1525 N. Flagler Drive, Suite 100. The attorneys can be contacted at (561) 366-9099. Additional information about Murray Guari Trial Attorneys PL may be obtained from the firm’s website at www.murrayguari.com.
Contact
Jason Guari, Murray Guari Trial Attorneys PL
(561) 366-9099
jguari@murrayguari.com
Kim Sailer, BARD Marketing/PR
ksailer@bardmarketing.com
