Your physician and local pharmacist have a hand in ensuring you receive your prescribed medication safely. However, what happens if you experience adverse effects from your medicine because of a medication error?
Before filing a claim or lawsuit, you should determine who is liable for the mistake. Sometimes, it is easy to pinpoint who made the error. However, certain cases are more complex based on the circumstances.
Physicians and pharmacists have separate roles when giving you prescribed medication. They are responsible for the following:
- A physician provides the prescription and informs the patient about potential side effects or interactions with other substances. They usually discuss these details before ending the consultation.
- A pharmacist is responsible for ensuring you receive the correct prescription and the safe medication dose. If your prescription indicates an unreasonable and unsafe dosage, a pharmacist should be able to notify you about it.
An investigation could reveal who is responsible for the mistake. Sometimes, both the physician and the pharmacist could share liability, depending on the errors they committed.
Additionally, you could look through local registries if your pharmacist or physician has a history of similar medical errors.
Medication errors are common
Unfortunately, giving the wrong prescription or dose is common among medical practitioners. Even the slightest mistake, such as a typing error or misspelled word, could affect a patient’s prescription.
These mistakes could lead to catastrophic health problems that require extensive medical care, such as surgeries, hospitalization and other treatments. Severe cases of overdose could even cause death. If you are a victim of this type of medical malpractice, you could file a claim and recover compensation for damages.
