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Medical Malpractice: Pharmacy Error
Medical malpractice is mostly concerned with the mistakes that doctors make when performing a medical procedure. If an average doctor might have reasonably made the mistake, that is, if the procedure was very difficult, then the doctor may not be liable for the mistake. However, if the procedure was very easy, such as the laceration of a boil, or if the error was “gross,” such as performing an operation on the wrong body part, then the doctor will be responsible for the resulting injury.
Pharmacists have the important job of dispensing medicine to patients, many of whom are terribly sick. If the pharmacist dispenses the wrong medication, or in the wrong dosage, this may constitute medical malpractice. A pharmacist must take into account any harmful interactions with other drugs the patient is currently taking. A pharmacist also must consider any allergies that the patient may have.
Research has indicated that up to 10% of prescriptions are filled in error. All of the factors and contingencies may make it seem unjust to excuse a pharmacist for the occasional mistake. And small mistakes that lead to only minor damage may reasonably be excused.
It is only when there is a real error and injury that pharmacists may be held liable for malpractice. For example, it was Pharmacist Malpractice when a baby was given an antibiotic at five times the prescribed dosage. Another child was dispensed the wrong steroid made only for adults, which made him experience early puberty.
Pharmacists are trained to dispense medication. Someone who is not a pharmacist almost surely would not know how to do so. Therefore, people put a huge amount of trust into pharmacists to stay awake when they are mixing drugs. Pharmacists are also responsible for checking on medicine prepared by technicians, who are often low-paid and inexperienced. But cases have shown that pharmacists sometimes fail to do so at large and busy pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens.
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