Medical malpractice can take many forms. Patients in Connecticut can be at risk of serious injury or even death from surgical errors, missed diagnoses, and even erroneous diagnoses. Mistakes regarding medications are also known to cause harm to patients. According to Psychology Today, as many as 1.5 million people are injured by medication errors in the United States every year.
Medical mistakes involving medications are ranked as the fourth most dangerous type of medical error. The top three spots on this list are occupied by misdiagnoses, treatments undergone that are not needed and dangerous procedure or unneeded diagnostics. It is noted that more than half of all patients in the hospital are not given their regular medications during their hospital stays. That alone opens up the opportunity for injury.
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy defines a medication error as a “preventable event” that leads to the injury of a patient or the inappropriate use of a particular medication. These errors can happen at any stage in the lifespan of a drug from the compounding and labeling to the prescribing and administration. Many different professionals can be involved in these mistakes including pharmaceutical manufacturer employees, physicians or other prescribing care providers, pharmacists, nurses and more.
Errors can be introduced by misinterpretations when the name of one drug is similar in sound or spelling to another drug. They can happen when the wrong medication is given to the wrong patient. They can happen with the correct medication is incorrectly used. These are just some examples of situations that result in medication errors for patients in Connecticut.
