Pharmacy Negligence: Important Lawsuit Information

The 2013 annual Gallop Poll once again ranked pharmacists as the runner-up for most trusted professionals, second only to nurses, and tied with grade school teachers. This marks the third year in a row for pharmacists to rank second in the Gallop Poll. Consequently, the high level of trust from consumers speaks volumes about the confidence we place in those charged with filling our medical prescriptions day after day.

Pharmacists and pharmacies play an essential role in our health care system. Therefore, we have come to rely on pharmacists for access to the drugs we need, and for education about the drugs we are taking. Pharmacies can be small neighborhood stores or nation-wide chains. Regardless of size, it is clear we trust our pharmacists to accurately dispense medicine to help make us better. When that trust is breached, and a pharmacy error occurs that hurts you or a loved one, you need personal injury legal counsel to advise you about your pharmacy negligence case.

Types of Pharmacy Negligence in Oklahoma:

The variety and number of pharmacy error cases in Oklahoma may surprise you. The types of Pharmacy Negligence and mistakes made by pharmacies and pharmacists are actually quite diverse, but each case has one thing in common. The error was likely preventable with proper care and attention. Some examples of common pharmacy error include:

• Dispensing the wrong type of medication
• Filling a prescription with the right medication, but the wrong dose
• Mislabeling medicine
• Providing the wrong prescription instructions
• Dispensing medicine to the wrong customer
• Failure to advise about dangerous pill interactions
• Failure to advise about contraindications
• Improper settings in electronic health record systems
• Botched drug compounding
• Confusing drugs with similar-looking names

Consequences of Pharmacy Negligence:

There really is no room for mistake in the pharmacy business, yet pharmacy errors are common. It seems as though pharmacies are placing more emphasis on the bottom-line than living up to the trust we place in them to avoid dispensing errors and provide proper drug counseling. Even pharmacists have complained about their fears that long work hours, staff cuts, and work pressure are impacting patient safety.

Of course patients need to take an active role in their own health care, too. It is recommended that you learn the names and indications of your prescriptions and read all the information provided by your pharmacists. Pharmacists may not take time to counsel you about potential drug interactions, dosage, and warnings, but you can learn much of this information on your own. However, no matter how much care we use as patients, it remains crucial that pharmacists professionally perform their duties. They are the trained experts on medications, and untrained patients cannot always detect mistakes.

Pharmacy Negligence Attorneys Helping People Get Treatment:

If you suspect your pharmacist made a mistake that caused you or a loved one harm, you should contact an experienced pharmacy attorney today. Our team has the experience needed to handle your case and expose pharmacy negligence. It;s important to act quickly in pharmacy negligence and pharmacy error cases. This is so  our attorneys can obtain important records for you, and interview witnesses.