Mistake made - being sued

[mass]

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One of our colleagues at the Pharmacy I work is being sued as he dispensed the wrong drug. The patient started to feel the ill effects after about 4-5 days and has sent a letter stating he is sueing the firm.

I was just thinking after this, what's there to ever say someone may change the label from one drug to another and claim we dispensed it wrong. I mean in all effect the signature of the pharmacist will be on all dispensed items so it isn't hard is it.

Secondly, we were all talking about it's hardly ever spoken about if a doctor makes a mistake but when a Pharmacist does, it's looked upon really badly. At the end of the day, a busy day dispensing around 500 days can cause problems no?

 

[mustang sally]

I don't know too much about the malpractice aspect of pharmacy, but I think you are crazy if you think no one cares when a doctor makes a mistake. Doctors get sued left and right. Although I believe the patient should have legal protection, malpractice lawsuits are not necessarily helping the U.S. health care system.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

One of our colleagues at the Pharmacy I work is being sued as he dispensed the wrong drug. The patient started to feel the ill effects after about 4-5 days and has sent a letter stating he is sueing the firm.

I was just thinking after this, what's there to ever say someone may change the label from one drug to another and claim we dispensed it wrong. I mean in all effect the signature of the pharmacist will be on all dispensed items so it isn't hard is it.

Secondly, we were all talking about it's hardly ever spoken about if a doctor makes a mistake but when a Pharmacist does, it's looked upon really badly. At the end of the day, a busy day dispensing around 500 days can cause problems no?

Although I dont have any experience, I dont think this lawsuit will fall through. Most lawyers wont take this case because they got bigger fishes to fry. As long as there was no neglience (mistakes do happen) on the pharmacists fault, I wouldnt worry too much (since punitive damages are what we worry most about). In any case best of luck to your colleague. Mistake happens and we are all bound to make one.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Anyone can sue anyone for anything if they have the money. Winning is another matter....

In order to win a malpractice suit you have to prove an error occured becuase of gross neglegence and harm was done. Its not an easy thing to do. It takes time and money and most lawers will not take a case like this unless there is a possibility of large damages awarded ie - someone died.

What is more likely to happen is the patient will scream, yell and threaten in the hopes of getting a settlement out of the company. I have seen it happen before.

 

[JerryPharmD]

One of our colleagues at the Pharmacy I work is being sued as he dispensed the wrong drug. The patient started to feel the ill effects after about 4-5 days and has sent a letter stating he is sueing the firm.

I was just thinking after this, what's there to ever say someone may change the label from one drug to another and claim we dispensed it wrong. I mean in all effect the signature of the pharmacist will be on all dispensed items so it isn't hard is it.

Secondly, we were all talking about it's hardly ever spoken about if a doctor makes a mistake but when a Pharmacist does, it's looked upon really badly. At the end of the day, a busy day dispensing around 500 days can cause problems no?

Pharmacy errors have been in media recently. There are always stories about physicians causing harm, they just haven't been picked on for a while. Here's a link of all the AZ MD board actions over the past year.

http://www.azmd.gov/glsuiteweb/clients/azbom/public/MD_RecentActions.aspx