Medication Error Lawyers in New Jersey

Over one million serious medication errors occur every year in New Jersey and throughout the United States. Medication errors are a type of medical malpractice by New Jersey doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists, and other medical professionals that can cause serious injury or a fatal reaction, especially if the patient has an allergy and goes into anaphylactic shock. It costs approximately $3.5 billion to treat injuries caused by medication mistakes annually. With lost income, reduced productivity, and ballooning health-care costs included, the annual cost of medication errors is estimated to be between $17 billion and $26 billion.

Common Medication Errors in New Jersey Hospitals

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:

  • The doctor has an incomplete patient report or no report at all.
  • The patient’s report includes test results that were misread.
  • The preoperative interview did not reveal medication allergies.
  • The patient is prescribed a medication that has an adverse interaction with a drug that they take regularly.
  • A mistake is made when the drug is being handled by a physician, nurse or aide.
  • The medication is administered incorrectly.
  • The medication is incorrectly labeled.
  • The patient is given the wrong dose.
  • The patient was given the wrong dosing instructions at the hospital.
  • The patient was not given a drug that they required.

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.

Common Medication Errors at the Pharmacy in New Jersey

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 in New Jersey and 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:

  • Doctors have illegible handwriting.
  • The pharmacist is distracted.
  • The pharmacist does not hear the prescription correctly when it is called in by the doctor.
  • Medication names and identifiers are too similar.
  • The dosing instructions are too difficult for the patient to follow.

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

MEDICATION & PHARMACY ERROR LAWSUITS

At the New Jersey law firm of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman, we have extensive experience in litigating medication and pharmacy error lawsuits, such as the $3.85 million medical malpractice settlement our medication error lawyers won against a hospital that gave an adult-sized dose of a medication to a nine-year-old child from New Jersey, causing the young girl to go into cardiac arrest, suffer kidney failure, and develop sepsis. This type of carelessness is inexcusable. Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

CONTACT OUR NEW JERSEY MEDICATION ERROR ATTORNEYS

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.

Medication Error Lawyers in New Jersey

Over one million serious medication errors occur every year in New Jersey and throughout the United States. Medication errors are a type of medical malpractice by New Jersey doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists, and other medical professionals that can cause serious injury or a fatal reaction, especially if the patient has an allergy and goes into anaphylactic shock. It costs approximately $3.5 billion to treat injuries caused by medication mistakes annually. With lost income, reduced productivity, and ballooning health-care costs included, the annual cost of medication errors is estimated to be between $17 billion and $26 billion.

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