Whenever a doctor prescribes medication — and whenever a nurse administers medication at a hospital — there is a chance of making a mistake. In fact, these mistakes happen all the time and every day at hospitals throughout the United States, and usually, they don’t result in any kind of injury or adverse reaction in the patient. Sometimes, however, a medication error will come with devastating and fatal consequences.
When prescribing medications, doctors need to consider a lot of different factors, such as the health of the patient, the unique bodily characteristics of the patient, other medications being taken and the potential for allergic reaction. By failing to consider and weigh all of these issues, a doctor could make a grave and fatal mistake.
Senior citizens are especially prone to suffering from problems caused by medication errors. This is because their bodies are older and less firm. It’s also because seniors tend to be taking a lot more medication than other segments of the population, so there’s a higher chance that an error like this can occur. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine has estimated that over 100,000 patients over the age of 65 suffer from hospitalizations as a result of medication errors each year.
If you or your loved one was hurt as a result of medication errors, you might want to look deeper into the problem. It’s possible that you can pursue financial restitution in court related to the injuries and damages the medication errors have caused.