Is Your Rx A Ticking Time Bomb?

Do pharmacies make mistakes filling your prescription? They sure do. Do drug companies make mistakes labeling their drugs? They sure do. And worse, these mistakes which often produce fatal results, are occurring at an alarming rate. The chance of you becoming the next victim is also increasing. Heres why. The era of your friendly and wise neighborhood pharmacist adorned with lab coat and grey mustache, carefully analyzing your medicinal dose, has all but vanished. The corner drug store of yesterday has been replaced by the modern day assembly line of chain store pharmacies. Feeding these chain stores is the multi-billion dollar drug industry, pumping more pharmaceuticals into the stream of commerce than at any time in history and likewise, the chain store pharmacies are in the business of selling those drugs. Selling has trumped service, with volume, and lots of it, being the bulls-eye. Now add to this reality the fact that as we get older, we consume more and more of these drugs to treat our progressive ailments. Based on numbers alone, the odds are increasing that you will become a victim of pharmaceutical negligence.
Pharmacy errors run the gamut from putting the wrong medication or the wrong dosage in the bottle to incorrectly labeling the prescription instructions. Here are some practical tips to help you from becoming a victim. If youre being prescribed a medication for the first time, ask your doctor to identify the medicine, the dosage and the frequency of use. Write it down so you have something to compare to your prescription later.
If you get a prescription refilled and it looks difference from what youve been taking before, tell your pharmacist, these pills dont look the same. He or she should visually confirm that your prescription is correct. If the dosage or frequency of taking your medication has changed, call your doctor to confirm the change.
Be especially careful if your prescription calls for compounding. Compounding is a process where your prescription is formulated or mixed by the pharmacist. Statistics clearly reveal that the potential for human error significantly increases whenever a pharmacy undertakes the compounding of medications. Because many compounding errors are not detected until after one suffers an adverse reaction, your best protection is to ask your doctor to recommend the name of a specific compounding pharmacy to formulate your medication.
If the medication you receive from your pharmacy doesnt come in the familiar brown, plastic pill container but instead, is in what appears to be in the drug manufacturers original container with the pharmacys label placed over it, compare the pharmacy label with the manufacturers label to make sure they are the same. If theyre not, ask your pharmacist to explain the difference. The difference may be that one of the labels contains a generic description of drug while the other contains the trade name. Or the difference may be that you discovered pharmacy negligence before you became a victim.
Negligence by a drug manufacturer may come in the form of its failure to provide adequate warning of adverse reactions, as well as in cases involving antidepressants prescribed for children and teens which have been found to increase the risk of suicide in pediatric patients.
Whether the negligence is committed by a pharmacy or a drug manufacturer, the law provides a remedy allowing for, among other things, money damages. However, pharmaceutical cases are complex and the laws pertaining to physical and emotional injuries are subject to strict deadlines called Statutes of Limitation. Anyone who has suffered a pharmaceutical related injury should contact a lawyer immediately to make sure their rights are properly protected.
Obviously the best course of action is always prevention. Be alert when you receive your next prescription. Pharmacy negligence and drug manufacturer negligence is an escalating reality. The Food & Drug Administration says adverse event reporting is as low as 10% for some drugs. Your vigilance could make the difference between healthy treatment or a disaster.
Bailey & Partners is located in Los Angeles, California. In addition to its practice in personal injury, wrongful death and business litigation, the firm represents victims of pharmaceutical negligence.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Patrick E. Bailey
Bailey & Partners is a team of lawyers dedicated to the success of every case, including complex business litigation for pharmaceutical litigation, high-profile aviation clients, bad faith insurance claims, and a host of matters helping our clients obtain recovery for harm caused by another's negligence. Every time someone enlists us to handle a personal injury or wrongful death matter, we commit ourselves to achieving maximum compensation. This approach has been very successful for us and for our clients. For more information visit our website at www.baileypartners.com