Attorney
In a recent study, the Institute of Medicine determined that medication errors sicken, injure, or kill over 1.5 million Americans a year. In hospitals, a patient will experience a medication error each day he or she is in a hospital bed. The added cost from treating drug errors amounts to at least $3.5 billion, the study found. If prescription medication errors have injured you or a loved one, a Virginia personal injury lawyer can provide the experience and understanding to guide you through your problems.
The trial of a Virginia doctor accused of prescribing a lethal combination of drugs is ongoing. The doctor fainted during testimony a couple of weeks ago, though the trial continued in his absence. The plaintiff’s family sued the doctor for giving the plaintiff a combination of Zoloft, Zithromax, and Levaquin, which the family alleges caused the woman’s heart to go into cardiac arrest. Doctors for the plaintiff testified how dangerous combining the drugs was.
Doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists should take steps to avoid drug errors. Experts have suggested such things as electronic prescriptions and standardized bar codes for checking and dispensing drugs. They have also suggested that patients can lessen the chances that an error hurts them by learning as much as they can about the drugs they take. Patients should speak with their doctors and other experts to learn about proper drug dosage, as well as what the drugs look like, and what combinations of drugs they should avoid.
If a prescription drug error has caused you pain and suffering, contact a Northern Virginia personal injury attorney, such as Kelly Fisher, at Koonz, McKenney, Johnson & DePaolis L.L.P.