Pharmacies play a crucial role in our healthcare system. Despite their best efforts, pharmacies can make mistakes, and when they do, their customers can suffer serious injuries, side effects and even death.

Consider this: one study estimates that as many as 98,000 deaths occur annually as the result of medication errors. Another study shows that as many as 7,000 deaths occur every year as the result of patients receiving incorrect prescriptions.

Some of the most common types of pharmacy errors include:

Incorrect medicine prescription

Sometimes doctors prescribe the wrong medicine, or they prescribe the wrong dose. If the pharmacist is aware of the reasons for which a drug is being prescribed, the pharmacist has a duty to verify that the doctor ordered the correct medicine and prescribed the correct amount for the patient. In addition, because many medicines have similar names, etc., a pharmacist has a duty to confirm that a patient receives the correct medicine.

Incorrect drug labeling or instructions

There are literally thousands of medicines, and patients do not know what most drugs look like. On the other hand, pharmacists are required to know about all of these medicines or to have the resources available to learn whatever they have to in order to assure patients receive the proper medications. Thus, pharmacies must confirm that the drugs a patient receives include the correct labeling and instructions, and they must be careful to assure that patients do not receive the wrong drug or the wrong dosage of the correct drug. If they do not comply with this standard of care, pharmacists may commit malpractice.

Failure to advise a patient about interactions and side effects

Pharmacies are obligated to advise patients about any potential interactions their drugs may have with other medicines and with certain foods. In addition, prescriptions should include information about possible side effects so that patients know what types of reactions their medicines may cause. In fact, some pharmacies take pride and advertise that they have systems in place to prevent these dangerous drug interactions from occurring. But if a pharmacy fails to recognize which drugs may interact with other drugs, a patient may be injured or die. In those circumstances, the pharmacists may have committed malpractice.

Failure to consult with a patient

Some states require pharmacists to consult with patients so that they can answer any questions the patients have and inform them about any side effects that might occur. If a pharmacy fails to consult with a patient, or does not inform a patient about known drug side effects, that may be malpractice.

Intravenous Solution and Other Compounding Errors

Some pharmacies still prepare intravenous solutions, and make certain medicines from scratch (the process is called “compounding”). If an intravenous solution contains the wrong drug or an incorrect dosage, or the pharmacists mixes the medication improperly, it may be malpractice.

If you, a member of your family, or a close friend, have been injured because of taking the wrong medicine or because of some other mistake, you should contact us at Pharmacy-Mistake.com for a free consultation.

Simply fill out the form on this website or call 215-995-2506 or 609-389-9958 for help.

Our personal injury lawyers regularly handle pharmacy negligence cases and can assist you with all aspects of your case.