Prescription Error Claims

Prescription error claims can involve serious injuries that require ongoing medical attention and pharmacy negligence can leave a patient with a worsened condition. Your pharmacy is responsible for ensuring that they are staffed with competent and well-trained pharmacists to help you receive your medication properly. When an error occurs at your pharmacy it can result in life-altering injuries. You are eligible to receive compensation for your injuries when they are the result of a prescription error.

Always Check Your Prescription
Your pharmacy has to follow medical protocol to help reduce human errors but it is still possible that you receive medication intended for someone else or for a different ailment. You should always double check your label to verify that your medication is indeed meant for you. This can be enough to prevent further injury in the first scenario. Checking your label will not prevent further harm when the error occurs because your pharmacist gave you the wrong medication or the wrong dosage information.

How Often Do Medication Errors Occur?
Prescription errors are growing as more drugs continue to be made available to the public. The problem got so bad that in April 2014, the Scottish Government introduced a standardised prescribing and administration chart to help reduce common errors.
A report commissioned by the Department of Health to study the financial impact of preventable errors such as improper use of medication revealed the huge financial toll Scottish taxpayers are shouldering due to these incidents. The NHS report showed that between £1 billion and £2.5 billion is wasted on preventable errors such as pharmacy negligence.

Types of Prescription Errors
Prescription errors can come about for numerous reasons and most reports show that overworked staff and distractions top the list of causations. Incomplete prescriptions can be attributed to around 30% of the prescription errors encountered in the UK. Dose and strength errors account for 18% of the total errors recorded and 11% of prescription errors have to do with the recommended dose times.