Kansas Medication Error Lawyers

Medication errors are an increasing problem in the health care system today. The effects of medication errors can cause serious permanent injury and even death to a patient. Even as technological advancements are put in place to help prevent these errors, they continue at an alarming rate.

Medication errors can happen in a variety of ways, such as:

• Hospital Medication Errors
• Insufficient Warning Labels
• Pharmacist Negligence
• Pharmacy Errors
• Prescription Medication Errors
• Prescription Medication Interactions
• Wrong Medication Prescribed

When a drug is prescribed to a patient, it is the doctor’s and pharmacist’s duty to make sure that the medication is sufficient for the diagnosis and that it will not interact with any other medications that the patient may be taking. Taking the wrong kind of medication or mixing medications can cause serious injury or even death.

Medication errors are most commonly caused by:

• Incorrect diagnosis
• Prescribing the wrong medication
• Drug interactions and reactions
• Dose miscalculations
• Incorrect drug administration
• Lack of patient education
• Job related stress
• Improper training or education
• Sound-alike or look-alike drug packaging

A study between the years of 1993-1998 found that the most common types of errors were:

• 40.9% (36.4% being overdose) - Administering improper dosage
• 19% - Wrong medication given
• 9.5% - Wrong route of administration

They also found the most common causes of these errors to be:

• 44% - Performance and knowledge deficits
• 15.8% - Communication errors.

Some alarming statistics relating to medication errors:

• Medication errors occur in about 1 of 5 doses in hospitals.
• Medication errors cause at least one death every day. (FDA)
• 1.3 million people sustain injury from medication errors every year. (FDA)
• It is estimated that 7,000 people die each year from medication errors.
• Adverse drug events cause more than 770,000 injuries and deaths every year. This costs up to $5.6 million per hospital.

If you have been the victim of a medication error, you have the right and responsibility to hold any negligent parties responsible for your injuries. Please contact one of our experienced Kansas medication error lawyers at Prochaska, Giroux & Howell for your free consultation.