Personal Injury
Dangerous Drugs
Other Topics
| Join Our Mailing List |
Home > Malpractice > Pharmacy Liability Law
Pharmacy Liability Lawyers
in Denver and throughout Colorado and Wyoming
According to the American Medical Association and the Institute of Sciences, more people die each year from errors in faulty administration of prescription medication than from job-related injuries.
These medication errors can be the result of any of the following:
- Dangerous drug interactions
- Incorrect dosage
- Administering the wrong medication
Some of these errors occur during surgery or under the direct supervision of a physician, in which case the likely course of legal action is a medical malpractice suit. In many cases, however, patients are injured as a result of pharmaceutical error.
Pharmacist liability
A pharmacist is a trained medical professional tasked with accurately filling patient prescriptions. The duties of the pharmacist, however, do not end at simply following physician instructions.
A pharmacist is responsible for:
- Accurately disclosing appropriate usage, including warnings, on the label
- Properly filling the prescription with the right drug at the right dosage
- Warning the patient of potential interactions with other drugs
- Answering the patient's questions about drug usage, contraindications or dangerous uses, and interactions
According to a study done by Auburn University in 2003, almost 1.72%, or almost one in every 55 prescriptions contained some sort of error. According to a 2006 report by the Institute of Medicine, these pharmaceutical errors injure 1.5 million Americans every year, at a cost of $3.5 billion annually.
If you or a loved one has suffered damages as a result of a pharmacist error, you may be entitled to compensation for your injury.
Misfills
Misfills are the most common type of pharmacist error. Errors classified as 'misfills' include:
- Dispensing the wrong medication. When the wrong medication is prescribed, the patient may not only suffer from the detrimental effects of the incorrectly administered medication, but he or she could also suffer damages from lack of the proper medication.
- Dispensing the wrong dosage of the right medication. When doses are incorrect, patients might suffer from either an overdose or insufficient medication.
- Mislabeling the prescription with incorrect information. When medication is mislabeled, it can create confusion and dangerous interactions if the patient seeks medical attention while using the drug.
Any of these errors can lead to serious injury and even death for the patient.
Questions About Pharmacist Malpractice
If you or a loved one was injured as a result of a prescription "misfill," call or email our offices today for your free personal consultation. We will help you sort through your case and determine whether you have a claim for pharmacist malpractice.
Return to the Malpractice Section
Contact Us
1-888-895-2080
$5,350,000
Jury awards a Burg Simpson client $5.35 million for Bad Faith Breach of Insurance Contract.$1,300,000
Jury award to Englewood company to total more than $1 million for breach of fiduciary duties in Shareholder Class Action Case.$690,000,000
Global settlement with Eli Lilly and Company regarding its product Zyprexa negotiated by a plaintiffs' attorney group including members of Burg Simpson.$5,800,000
Hines, et al, vs. Cody Gas Company, et al: verdict for injuries, damages, losses from gas explosion.
Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C. is a law firm serving the Rocky Mountain Region. The firm has offices in Denver, Colorado, Cody, WY, Cincinnati, Ohio, & Phoenix, AZ. The Firm is responsible for the content on the website,this information is not to be interpreted as providing legal services,
nor as proposing any form of legal advice.
