When most people think of medical malpractice, they think of surgeons making a critical mistake during a surgical procedure. Most instances of malpractice, though, are far less dramatic. Some are even banal, like a mistake in the prescription of a medication.
However, just because it is not a dramatic event does not mean that a prescription drug error cannot be catastrophic. Not getting the drugs you need to recover from a medical condition—or receiving incorrect ones—can do tremendous damage to your health and well-being.
The resulting deterioration in your health can be significant, but so could retaining a skilled medical malpractice attorney to represent your best interests. If you want to recover fair compensation, you might want to start by talking to a DuPage County prescription drug errors lawyer.
What is a Prescription Drug Error?
A prescription drug error can come in a variety of forms. All of them, however, involve a discrepancy between what a medical professional prescribes a patient and what that patient receives and takes.
Many prescription drug errors involve pharmacists who struggle to read a doctor’s vague or poorly-written notes, inadvertently filling a prescription for one drug with something else as a result. Others involve mistakes within the pharmacy, with too many pills being distributed or not enough.
Still more involve an incorrect dosage amount on the doctor’s prescription. However, these mistakes all have one important thing in common: they are all completely preventable.
How Common Are Prescription Drug Errors?
Prescription drug mistakes are far more common than many people in DuPage County would like to admit. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly five percent of hospitalized patients experience an adverse drug event, many of which are the result of a prescription drug error. The commonality of prescription drug errors highlights the importance of the oversight a DuPage County prescription drug errors lawyer could provide by filing a lawsuit against any parties responsible for such errors on an injured patient’s behalf.
The Parallel Injuries from a Prescription Drug Error
When a prescription drug error happens, there are two parallel injuries that an unsuspecting victim can suffer. The first is from the negative effects of the prescription drug that the victim was told to take. Especially when the victim was already taking other prescriptions that can have adverse reactions to the drug mistakenly prescribed, the internal injuries resulting from a prescription error can be serious.
The second effect, though, is commonly overlooked but just as often no less dangerous—while the patient is taking a drug they do not need, they are also not taking the drug they do need to combat a medical condition. Without the right drug for their condition, victims of a prescription drug error may suffer worsening conditions related to their original ailment.
These two parallel injuries from a prescription drug error can be uniquely devastating. Fortunately, a prescription medication error attorney in DuPage County could work with affected patients to seek financial recovery for all their damages, from objective losses like the costs of additional medical treatment to subjective ones like general pain and suffering.
Speak with a DuPage County Prescription Drug Errors Attorney
Prescription drug errors may never happen if medical professionals always paid reasonable attention to their work. When they do happen, there is accordingly a distinct chance that medical malpractice has occurred.
If you suffered from a healthcare provider’s poor conduct and negligent actions, you deserve to be compensated for your losses. To that end, a DuPage County prescription drug errors lawyer could help you compile evidence to show that you were not at fault and that you deserve reimbursement for all the losses you sustained. Call today to learn more.