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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

Settlements and Verdicts

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.

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