Prescription medications produce a host of valuable benefits for patients. Their properties have saved countless lives and improved the lives of millions more. However, it is estimated that pharmacy errors affect more than 7 million patients annually. An error in medication can have a far-reaching impact on your health and well-being. If you’ve been injured due to a pharmacy error in Denver, the attorneys of Jordan, Herington & Rowley are here to help you get the compensation you deserve.
More Than Just Bad Handwriting
Doctors’ penmanship has been a joking matter for many years. However, if an error in reading the doctor’s prescription occurs, you could suffer the consequences. Poor handwriting is affecting fewer patients today as electronic communications grow in popularity; however, it is still a significant source of pharmacy errors.
Prescription Filled with Incorrect Medication
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians take many precautions to help ensure prescriptions are correctly filled. A moment of carelessness can result in the wrong medication being dispensed to the patient. Getting the wrong medication can cause a number of problems for the patient: The condition for which the proper medication was prescribed goes untreated, and the patient may suffer ill effects from taking an incorrect medication.
Incorrect Dosage of Medication
Proper medication is important, but so is the correct dosage. Too low a dosage may have little to no affect on your illness, resulting in a disease progressing to a point where more invasive treatments are required. Too high a dosage may result in dangerous side-effects that require medical treatment or cause injury.
Harmful Interactions
The medication you take can interact with other medications you are prescribed in harmful ways. These drug interactions are generally well known, and so dispensing or prescribing medications that could cause harmful interactions should be easily avoidable. Either the prescribing doctor or the pharmacist could be at fault in prescribing or dispensing the medication in these cases.
Failure to Warn of Side-Effects
Most medications come with some side-effects and warnings for how to avoid injury while taking the medication. It is the duty of the pharmacist to ensure you are properly warned about any harmful side-effects and to provide instructions for proper medication usage. Failing to warn you about the possible consequences of taking the medication is a serious act of negligence that could result in your injury.
Medical Malpractice Claims in Denver
Pharmacy errors generally fall under medical malpractice areas of the law. In such cases, you generally have two years from the date of the injury, or the date you became aware or should have been aware that the error caused you injury, to file a claim. There can be exceptions under which there may be more time, but in most cases it is best to begin the process of pursuing a claim as soon as possible.
The attorneys of Jordan, Herington & Rowley are experts in fighting complex pharmacy error cases. You are entitled to receive compensation for injuries received due to pharmacy errors, so don’t miss out on the compensation you deserve by allowing too much time to pass before starting your claim.