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Medical Malpractice Lawsuits After The Wrong Medication Is Administered

15 December 2020

Michelle Garrett

When you receive the wrong prescription medication, this can have two horrible outcomes. One, you won't be receiving a medication that might be essential. Also, incorrect medication might lead to negative side effects. Therefore, you will want to speak to a medical malpractice attorney about whether you may pursue legal action.

Whether or Not Negligence Occurred

In many cases, medical treatments fail to achieve their desired effects. Sometimes, there are unexpected drug reactions that could not have been foreseen or the treatment might simply not be as effective as your doctor had hoped. 

However, if there was some way to foresee issues or prevent them, everyone along the chain of administering your medication could potentially be held responsible for administering the wrong drug. For example, a physician or nurse might prescribe a medication that would not be appropriate or they might prescribe medication at the wrong dose. They might not take into consideration that a particular medication might react to your asthma or an allergy that you have.

Medical Malpractice Legal Representation

Medical malpractice cases, especially those that involve prescription medications, can be very complex. Therefore, it's a good idea to get in contact with an experienced medical malpractice attorney who can help you gather the evidence necessary to prove your case.

For a party to be held responsible, they will need to be the exact party that made the mistake. For example, you will not be able to hold your doctor responsible if it was actually the pharmacist or drug manufacturer who was responsible for the error. However, this is easier to prove if your healthcare provider directly administered the medication.

A common problem is when a healthcare professional administers too much of a particular medication because of simply missing a single decimal point. Even bad handwriting can be enough to leave a medical professional liable. If your medication needs to be administered through a needle, you might have an adverse drug reaction simply because the needle was inserted in the wrong place.

How to Prove Negligence

To prove that a medical professional was negligent, you must show that there was a standard of care for your doctor and that your doctor violated the standard of care. Fortunately, this might be easier in the case of a wrong medication than it is in other situations because administering the wrong medication or the wrong dosage is clearly a sign of negligence. However, you'll need help of a medical malpractice doctor to gather the necessary evidence.

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