Nursing Home Medication Mistakes

Studies show that the most common kind of medical malpractice involves error in the administration of medication. Nursing homes are particularly vulnerable to that kind of malpractice, given the fact that nearly every resident there is prescribed a heavy regimen of medication, and the facilities are notoriously prone to abuse and neglect.

For patients and their families, nursing home medication mistakes can have dire consequences. Even minor discrepancies between the way a medicine is administered and the method prescribed can have an incredibly detrimental (or even fatal) effect on patients.

At The Law Offices of James C. DeZao, P.A., we understand just how troubling nursing home medication mistakes can be. The people living in these facilities deserve the very highest standard of care, and you reasonably rely on the nurses and medical staff to get things like dosage and prescription right… every single time. Failure to do so is unacceptable and can be deadly.

Fortunately, state and federal law provide a number of penalties designed to hold nursing homes and other such facilities accountable for their negligence, including paying compensation to victims or their families. If you or a loved one has suffered injury as a result of medical error, a New Jersey nursing home abuse attorney in our office can help.

TYPES OF NURSING HOME MEDICATION MISTAKES

Though many of us are used to taking medication on a regular basis, the truth is that pharmaceuticals can affect our bodies in many different ways. The responsibility of administering medication to another person is a very serious one. Common mistakes made in nursing homes include:

• Skipping doses
• Combining doses
• Overdose / Underdose
• Using expired product
• Relying on expired prescriptions
• Administering medicine at the wrong time of day
• Administering medicine with/without food, contrary to directions
• Switching a patient’s medication with someone else’s
• Using the wrong route of administration
• Failure to take precautions against medicinal interactions
• Failure to monitor a patient’s reaction to medication
• Failure to appropriately report or treat side effects
• Failure to seek emergency care for urgent adverse reactions.

It’s also possible for the pharmacy or lab to make critical mistakes. Poor penmanship on prescriptions, negligent miscommunication, accidentally switching test results, simple carelessness, and human error can all contribute to serious or life-threatening complications.

While healthcare professionals may sometimes purposely act out in abuse against patients, it’s more common for nursing home medication mistakes to arise accidentally. Nevertheless, it is the nursing home — not the elderly patient — that is in the best position to ensure that mistakes aren’t made. The law requires nursing homes to exercise precaution and a very high standard of care to adequately provide for residents’ health and safety.

Even a single medication error can have profound implications and may entitle victims or their families to legal recourse.