Medication errors are more common than you may realize, and they can cause serious complications. These mistakes come in many different forms, and the fact that we turn to medications to bolster our health can amplify the emotional component involved.
If a medical professional’s medication error caused you injury, contact an experienced Houston medication error lawyer at KGS Law PLLC. Our medical malpractice attorneys have the experience, legal insight, and skill to help.
When Medication Errors Occur
There are three primary points at which medication errors are most likely to occur. These include when you are prescribed the medication, when the medication is sold to you at the pharmacy, or when you are treated with the medication, such as in the hospital or a rehabilitation facility. A skilled Houston drug error attorney could help determine where the mistake occurred.
Your Medication Error Claim
In order to bring a successful medication error claim that addresses your physical, financial, and emotional losses, the error must reach the level of medical malpractice. This means the professional standard of care that applies must have been breached.
The Professional Standard of Care
When it comes to the medical profession, the applicable standard of care is the level of care that the medical professional’s peers would have employed under similar circumstances. This means that a medical professional’s reasonable peers would not have performed a similar action, or, conversely, their reasonable peers would have performed an action that was neglected to have been performed given the situation. In this situation, medical malpractice may apply under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 74.
The Elements of Your Medication Error Claim
For your attorney to prove your medication mistake claim in Houston, each of the following elements must apply. First, the doctor, pharmacist, or other medical professional owed you a duty of care, which is established by your status as a patient. Then, the doctor, pharmacist, or other medical professional did not fulfill this responsibility. Finally, the doctor, pharmacist, or other medical professional’s medication error was the direct cause of the losses you suffered.
Your Legal Damages for Medication Errors
Your legal damages are those losses that are addressed by medical malpractice law. These include any medical expenses and any lost income that you incurred as a result of the medication error. The more serious the error, the more extensive these losses are likely to be.
Finally, there is the matter of your physical and emotional pain and suffering to consider. This refers to those losses that are not economic in nature but that, nevertheless, lead to challenging consequences. This category of loss can intensify the effects of your economic damages and surpass them in terms of overall impact.
Working closely with a diligent drug error attorney from the outset could make a serious difference in the outcome of your claim in Houston.
What Are Common Medication Errors?
Medication errors are addressed in terms of when they occur, and they are often caused by human error, such as mistakes made due to being fatigued, distracted, or rushed. If your prescribing physician made the error, it likely falls into one of the following categories:
- Prescribing the wrong medication
- Using an inappropriate delivery method
- Administering the wrong dosage or strength
- Providing instructions that are unclear, too complicated to follow, or incorrect
- Failing to consider other prescribed medications, drug allergies, or potentially harmful drug interactions
Medication errors can also occur at the pharmacy. These often relate to dispensing errors, such as dispensing the wrong drug or the wrong strength of the drug that you have been prescribed. They can also take the form of inaccurate labeling, such as providing you with incorrect dosage instructions. Failure to apply the necessary warning labels can also qualify.
If the medication error takes place in a medical facility, such as in a hospital setting, it can similarly relate to the wrong medication, dosage, delivery route, or delivery schedule. A medication mistake attorney in Houston could help you determine the origin of the error to move forward with your case.
Discuss Your Claim With an Experienced Houston Medication Error Attorney
A Houston medication error lawyer at KGS Law PLLC may spare no effort in pursuit of a just settlement that adequately covers your full range of losses. Your claim is important, so please do not wait to contact us online or call our firm today.