New Orleans Medication Error Lawyer
Drugs are an indispensable method of treating serious illness and disease in America, yet they are not without risk. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that 7,000 deaths and over a million injuries each year are related to medications. Medication errors send 700,000 people to the ER every year, resulting in 100,000 hospitalizations. Additionally, about 5% of hospital admissions yield medication errors of their own, known in the field as an adverse drug event or ADE. Tragically, medication injuries and deaths are preventable in 90% of those cases, they happen in doctors’ offices, hospitals and pharmacies.
The New Orleans medication error lawyers at the Palazzo Law Firm provide skilled, compassionate and aggressive representation to hold responsible parties liable for their negligence and make sure patients are compensated for all of the harm done to them by this form of medical malpractice.
Why do medication errors occur in New Orleans hospitals?
Confusion when prescribing medicines, filling prescriptions or administering medications can be the source of medication errors with serious negative consequences. There are over 10,000 drugs currently on the market. Some have very similar names or abbreviations or look practically identical but are intended to treat entirely different conditions. Other drugs may treat the same condition yet operate in very different ways and have vastly different sensitivities and drug interactions. With about one in three Americans taking five or more medications, choosing the right drug to treat a condition in light of the patient’s existing regimen can be a daunting yet critical part of proper medical care. Doctors, pharmacists, nurses and hospitals are all capable of prescribing, filling or administering the wrong drug or the wrong dosage, or choosing drugs that interact dangerously with other medications the patient is taking.
Some of the simple steps hospitals could take to cut down on medication errors include:
- Ensure communication among doctors and nurses during shift changes and patient handoffs.
- Record all drugs and dosages prescribed, administered, changed or canceled in the patient’s chart to avoid duplicate doses, missed doses or harmful drug interactions.
- Ensure that medications are being properly administered in the correct form.
- Before administering medication, perform a double-check with the doctor, nurse, patient, or chart to make sure the right drug is being delivered to the right patient.
Help is Available after Medication Errors in New Orleans
If you or a loved one suffered harm while under care and no reasonable explanation is offered for why the harm occurred, a medication error is a possible reason that should be explored. The seasoned New Orleans medical malpractice attorneys at the Palazzo Law Firm are skilled and experienced in investigating cases of medical malpractice in New Orleans hospitals, determining the cause of harm, and holding responsible parties accountable for the harm caused by their negligence.
If you believe you may have been hurt by a medication error in a New Orleans hospital, doctor’s office or pharmacy, call the Palazzo Law Firm in Gretna at 504-433-1442 for a no-cost, confidential consultation with a skilled and experienced New Orleans medical malpractice attorney. Our lawyers won’t charge any fee unless and until we recover for you.
