Reviewed by Mazie Slater’s experienced medication and pharmacy error attorney [David A. Mazie – Managing Partner of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman]

When a doctor writes a prescription, a nurse administers a dose, or a pharmacist fills an order, patients trust that the medication reaching them is correct. That trust is usually well placed, but prescribing, dispensing, and administration mistakes still happen in New Jersey hospitals, doctors’ offices, and pharmacies, and the consequences can range from an allergic reaction to a fatal drug interaction, especially for a patient with an undisclosed allergy. A medication error is a form of medical malpractice, and when a healthcare provider’s negligence causes one, the patient and their family may be entitled to compensation. At Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman, our New Jersey medication error lawyers have spent decades holding hospitals, pharmacies, and physicians accountable for prescription mistakes that changed our clients’ lives.

Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman is one of New Jersey’s most recognized plaintiffs’ law firms, with a long history of securing substantial verdicts and settlements in medical malpractice cases, some involving prescribing, dispensing, and medication-administration errors. We have the resources, medical experts, and courtroom experience to take on hospitals, pharmacies, and physicians of any size. Our medication error attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning there are no attorney fees unless we win your case.

Medication error cases often come down to proving what a hospital, pharmacist, or physician knew, and when they should have caught the mistake. Our attorneys have secured meaningful results for clients harmed by prescribing and dispensing errors, including:

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

Medical malpractice falls under the broader umbrella of personal injury law, and Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman has been recognized among the leading personal injury and medical malpractice firms in both New Jersey and the nation. Medication error cases call for attorneys who understand pharmacology, hospital protocol, and the standard of care owed by each provider in the chain, from the prescribing doctor to the dispensing pharmacist. Some of our awards and recognitions include:

Unlike firms that treat prescription mistakes as routine claims, we have decades of experience litigating cases against hospitals, pharmacy chains, and individual physicians for the breakdowns that occur when medication isn’t prescribed, filled, or administered correctly.

A prescription passes through several hands before it reaches a patient: the prescribing doctor, the nurse or technician who transcribes or fills the order, the pharmacist who verifies it, and the nurse or caregiver who ultimately administers it. A mistake at any one of these steps, a misread chart, an illegible prescription, a mix-up between two similarly named drugs, or a missed allergy or interaction, can send the wrong medication, the wrong dose, or the wrong instructions to the patient. These breakdowns are especially common in high-pressure environments like hospital floors and busy retail pharmacies, where staff are often asked to move quickly through a heavy volume of prescriptions.

Medication errors are among the most common and most preventable forms of medical malpractice. According to the CDC’s medication safety data, adverse drug events send more than 1.5 million people to hospital emergency departments across the country every year, and nearly 500,000 of them require hospitalization; patients 65 and older account for more than 600,000 of those emergency visits. 

In New Jersey specifically, a study from 2005-2006 evaluated 57,554 patients who were admitted to two New Jersey hospitals. Of those patients, 0.8% experienced medication errors during hospitalization, with older patients and women more likely to do so. 

Medication errors can occur any time during the handling of the medication, such as prescribing, dispensing, administering, and monitoring the patient. Common medication errors in a hospital can happen for several reasons, including:

If you were the victim of a medication error in a hospital, our New Jersey medication error attorneys will seek to recover all possible damages from the hospital for injuries incurred by the error.

A pharmacy is a hectic environment. Patients are in a hurry to pick up their medications, which puts extra pressure on the pharmacy employees. That leads to prescriptions being incorrectly filled with the wrong drug or the wrong dose. More than 7,000 people die around the country each year from medication errors made by their local pharmacy. Medication errors and improper drug reactions can happen with prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, or supplements.

Some of the reasons for pharmacy errors are:

In most cases, a communication breakdown is the root cause of the medication error. Imprecise communication can cause confusion about the drug’s name, its appearance, dosing instructions, when to take it, and whether a new prescription is meant to replace or supplement a former one.

Seek Medical Attention Immediately. If you suspect you or a loved one received the wrong medication or an incorrect dose, contact a doctor or go to the emergency room right away. Getting treatment quickly protects your health and can limit the harm caused by the error.

Preserve the Medication, Packaging, and Label. Don’t throw away the pill bottle, vial, IV bag, or box, and keep the pharmacy receipt and any printed instructions. These items are often the clearest evidence of what went wrong.

Request Copies of Your Medical and Pharmacy Records. Ask for your prescription history, hospital chart, medication administration records, and pharmacy fill history. These records establish who prescribed, dispensed, and administered the medication in question.

Write Down What Happened. Note when you took or received the medication and what symptoms followed, and when. A written timeline created while the details are fresh can matter later.

Avoid Speaking with the Provider’s Insurer Before Consulting an Attorney. If a hospital, pharmacy, or physician’s insurance carrier reaches out, do not give a statement or accept a settlement offer without speaking to a lawyer first.

Contact an Experienced New Jersey Medication Error Attorney Promptly. New Jersey’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims is generally two years from the date the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. The sooner you contact our firm, the sooner we can begin preserving evidence and building your case.

Multiple parties can share responsibility for a medication error, and identifying every liable party is often key to recovering full compensation. Depending on where and how the mistake occurred, liability may fall on:

Our pharmacy error attorneys investigate every medication error case from the outset, reviewing medical and pharmacy records and consulting with medical experts to determine exactly where the breakdown occurred and who should be held accountable.

Victims of medication errors in New Jersey may be entitled to recover a broad range of damages reflecting both their financial losses and the personal toll of a preventable injury.

Economic damages are those that can be calculated with relative precision. They include past and anticipated future medical expenses related to the error, such as additional surgery, hospitalization, medication to correct the mistake, and long-term care. Economic damages also cover lost wages for time missed from work during recovery, as well as loss of future earning capacity if the injury prevents a return to a prior occupation.

Non-economic damages compensate for losses, such as physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, and psychological harm stemming from the error, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium for a spouse or partner affected by the injured person’s condition. New Jersey does not cap compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases, so our attorneys can pursue the full measure of our clients’ losses. If a patient died as a result of a medication error, the family may also be entitled to bring a wrongful death claim, seeking damages for funeral expenses, loss of financial support, and loss of companionship.

If you or a loved one has suffered as a result of a medication error, please contact Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman. We will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss your case. Our New Jersey medication error lawyers will aggressively take on the pharmacy or hospital where the error took place and we will get you the compensation you deserve. Our track record speaks for itself.