Michigan Prescription Error Attorney
In many situations, prescription drugs are filled incorrectly or side effects are not clearly explained to the patient. The wrong dosage may have been prescribed, directions may not be clear or in some cases, an entirely different drug with a similar name was prescribed. When this happens, severe injury or death may occur. A recent study from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies reported that in the United States alone, approximately 1.5 million prescription drug errors occurred. If you or a loved one was a victim of a prescription error, it is important to speak with our lawyers.
Common examples of prescription drug errors include:
- Incomplete patient information
- Inappropriate labeling of a drug
- Unavailable drug information
- Communication of drug orders, which can involve confusion between drugs with similar names, poor handwriting, confusion of metric and other dosing units, misuse of zeroes and decimal points, and inappropriate abbreviations.
FDA receives medication error reports on marketed human drugs (including generic drugs, prescription drugs, and over-the-counter drugs) and nonvaccine biological devices and products. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention defines a prescription error as any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the drug is in the control of the healthcare professional, consumer, or patient. Such events may be related to health care products, professional practice, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; packaging, product labeling, and dispensing; nomenclature; distribution; compounding; administration; education; monitoring; and use.
There are many prescription drugs that are taken properly and prescribed properly, but there is an error with the medication itself and it is recalled. Unfortunately, these medications are usually recalled after the damage has been done and somebody has been injured from the drug. This is especially common with diet pills, such as Fen-Phen, Phentermine, Xenical, Redux, Ionamin, Meridia, and Adipex.
