Dispensing Errors – Wrong Medicine Claims
Over 853 million prescriptions are handed out every year in the UK, and with such a large number, dispensing errors are sometimes made which can result in a patient receiving the wrong drug from their pharmacist.
The implications of this are very serious as many may people rely on particular drugs to ensure their general health and without these drugs their life would be in danger. Additionally, the drug which has been incorrectly received could cause a violent reaction in the patient, seriously jeopardising their well-being.
Dispensing errors can usually be traced either to the doctor prescribing the medication, the pharmacist handing over the medication or the pharmacist checking and sorting the prescriptions. However, the fact still remains medical negligence has taken place which has consequently put the patient’s life at risk.
It's difficult to calculate the exact number of prescription or medication mistakes made each year as it is believed that many case go unreported with the patient either suffering no adverse side effects or noticing the error and returning to the pharmacy for the correct medication.
However, in some cases, the result can be devastating and even fatal.
Medicine safety
According to the National Patient Safety Agency, 6.5% of all hospital patents in the year 2005 – 2006 came to harm as a result of medication errors.
57% of these were due to the patient being administered the incorrect dosage of their medication, with 92 cases resulting in serious injury or death.
An intensive study carried out in 2005 revealed that 2.1% of prescriptions were dispensing errors, although most of these were picked up during the checking process, with 1 out of every 100 mistakes made resulting in the patient receiving the incorrect prescription.
Where the wrong medicine has been prescribed it is important to see a doctor as soon as possible and explain what has happened in order to have the best chance of making a full recovery.
Once a negligent party has been established, which should relatively easy to identify as extensive records are kept at every stage of the prescribing and administration of the medicine, it may be possible to bring a medical negligence claim against the healthcare professional or healthcare body responsible for the mistake.
In many case substantial compensation can be won from a medical negligence claim.