Related Links Injuries from Drug Interactions Deserve Compensation Who Is Liable for Prescription Misfills? Minor Injuries from Medication Errors Can Have Serious Effects |
You have probably received many prescriptions over the years and haven’t ever had a problem until now. So why did you receive the wrong medication now? What happened? What went wrong?
A common cause of patients receiving wrong medications happens when pharmacists misread prescriptions, confuse drugs with a sound-alike medication, or mix up prescriptions with other customers’ medications. When pharmacists are overworked, distracted, or tired, they can make wrong medication errors that can cause patients to suffer serious injuries, such as:
- Dizziness
- Chest pain
- Breathing problems
- Low or high blood pressure
- Allergic reactions
- Heart attack
- Internal organ injuries
- Disability
- Death
When a pharmacist accidentally fills your pill bottle with the wrong drugs, you can suffer injures or serious side-effects. This error can lead to pain, expensive medical bills, lost wages, and other damages that you should be compensated for. For example, Rosa Garcia-Kisting is suing a Beaverton Walgreens after she received the wrong medication. Although she was prescribed 600 mg of ibuprofen, she received gabapentin. As a result, Garcia-Kisting claims it caused her to stutter, become dizzy, foggy and tired. She is suing for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Unfortunately, this situation isn’t unique as pharmacy mistakes occur more than most people realize. For example, another Oregon pharmacy patient reported chest pain and trouble breathing as a result of getting the wrong medication from a Rite Aid in Hillsboro.
Because pharmacy mistakes are not uncommon and it’s easy for pharmacists to dispense the wrong medications, we urge you to check your prescriptions before leaving the pharmacy and to confirm that the information on the outside of the pill bottle matches the doctor’s prescription. If you have suffered at the hands of a negligent pharmacist, please get a free copy of our report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.