Tampa Personal Injury Lawyers / Medication Errors

Medication Errors

Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Trusting the judgment of a medical professional is something we all take for granted. If you are suffering from an injury from medication errors, you may have a case for medical malpractice. Contact our Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorneys to hold the negligent parties accountable.

Medication Errors - Tampa Medical Malpractice LawyersAccording to the Food and Drug administration, medication errors can cause at least one death every day and injure approximately 1.3 million people annually in the United States.

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Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorneys Morgenstern & Herd, PLLC represents victims of prescription medication errors in Florida who have received:

  • The wrong drug
  • The wrong dose
  • The wrong concentration
  • A drug that was administered too quickly
  • The wrong method for administering of the drug
  • A prescription from a physician unaware of the other medications the patient was taking at the same time
  • No warning from the pharmacy to protect patients from an expected drug interaction risk

Many prescription medication errors are preventable

Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorney Betsey Herd knows errors come during the prescribing process as well as in the writing of prescriptions.  Any step in filling a prescription can generate errors, and many of these errors are preventable.  Sources of errors include:

  • Poor handwriting on prescriptions
  • Similar-sounding names of prescription drugs
  • Confusion about correct dosage amounts and instructions
  • Confusing labeling and package content on both over-the-counter and prescription drugs
  • Use of abbreviations

Our clients benefit from Betsey Herd’s former profession in healthcare management and current career as a skilled Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorney.  She tenaciously defends your rights against negligence from:

  • Drug manufacturers
  • The prescribing physician
  • The pharmacy
  • The pharmacist in hospital or pharmacy

Frequently Asked Questions About Medication Errors

Do I Have a Claim If My Doctor Gave Me the Wrong Prescription?
  • If a doctor prescribes the wrong medication or dosage, you may have a claim. If you never took the prescription or if no physical damages occurred, then you would end up spending money on experts and recover nothing.  If you think a doctor has prescribed you the wrong medication or dosage, confront the doctor immediately. Your concern at this point is your health, not a malpractice suit.
How Should I Avoid Wrong Prescriptions?
  • First, look at the prescription and ensure it’s the one you are prescribed.  You should ask the pharmacist questions, and talk to your physician about what type of medicine you should be receiving and why.  You should always be informed and keep open communication with your doctor and the pharmacist.
Is the Pharmacist Required to Help Avoid Wrong Prescriptions?
  • The pharmacist that is filling your prescription has an obligation to fill it correctly, and answer your questions.  There is a check-off list that appears when you pick up your prescription. Your pharmacist can help you avoid any medication errors.
I Took the Wrong Prescription, What About Long Term Damages?
  • You should confront you physician with any questions you have on this matter.  You should seek medical attention before you seek counseling from an Attorney.
How Can I File a Medical Malpractice Claim in Florida?
  • In the State of Florida, you can’t jump right away into filing a medical malpractice suit. You have to go through a pre-suit process, during which time your attorney will gather all relevant medical records and send these to an expert for independent review. This expert will provide an affidavit, which your attorney will send via certified mail to the medical provider. That medical provider will have 90 days to consult with an attorney and malpractice carrier, and at the end of that period must either admit or deny the claim. If the medical provider denies your claim, your attorney will file a lawsuit.
How Should I Choose a Medical Malpractice Attorney?
  • Experience matters most. You aren’t just looking for an attorney with plenty of court time and peer recommendations, either, though these things are important. Generally, an attorney with some medical background will be more successful in Florida medical malpractice cases. All this information is available online, but you shouldn’t stop there. Remember that you may spend years working with this person. You should meet face-to-face before deciding. You need someone you can trust, someone you’re comfortable talking to, someone who won’t bully you into a course of action you don’t want to take, and, ideally, someone you like.
How are Damages Determined?
  • If you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, you and your family need compensation. The complexity of malpractice cases require significant research and testimony from expert witnesses, all of whom must be paid. You can’t pay them out-of-pocket because you’re already struggling. This money has to come from your reward. Because of that, your damages have to rise to a certain level, so you can pay your attorney and expert witnesses and still have compensation left over. As such, it is not generally worth your time to pursue a claim for a minor injury.
How Can a Medical Malpractice Case be Won?
  • To win your case, you need to do more than document substandard care. Substandard care per se does not cause damages. You need to prove causation – in other words, that the documented substandard care directly caused physical and/or emotional damages. In general, you also have to demonstrate catastrophic, long term, or permanent damages. If you recover before too far into your suit – and suits will, again, last years – you may only get enough in recoverable damages to pay your attorney and the expert witnesses you hired.

If you have been injured or a loved one has lost their life due to prescription medication errors, contact our Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Morgenstern & Herd, PLLC today to arrange a free initial consultation and preliminary case review.  We handle all personal injury and wrongful death cases on a contingent fee basis.

Download Our Free Medical Malpractice Guide

Contact our experienced Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorneys today if you or a loved one has been a victim of a prescription medication error by a pharmacist.

Attorney Betsey Herd is a partner with Morgenstern & Herd, PLLC  and has achieved the highest rating of 10 on Avvo.