When parents get old, they deserve the best treatment for their minds and body. As these seniors get old, they become prone to health conditions.
Unfortunately, when such seniors are taken to nursing homes, they face common problems of medication errors. This puts them at risk of serious complications or even death.
Mistakes in medications can lead to medical malpractice. However, getting the evidence for a lawsuit is not easy.
Medication Errors In Nursing Homes
Whether to get compensated for a medication error will be based on whether the liable party was negligent. Such negligence may arise from administering the wrong medication, mislabeling of medication, and giving medication that is allergic to the senior. If your senior has been subjected to such suffering, you can contact law firms in Anchorage.
There are common medication errors. Some of them include:
- Failure to shake or mix medication before use: Some medications require proper mixing before use to allow ingestion. If such medication is not mixed well, there is a probability that the senior may not get the correct dosage. One example is the use of insulin suspensions for diabetic seniors.
- Failure to monitor the senior after medication: Sometimes, such acts end up harming a patient. If a patient is given medication after eating, the nursing staff should observe whether they will react to such medication. For instance, antacids are given before the meals, but sometimes they cause patients to vomit. Seniors may be prone to choking while vomiting, especially if they are not in the proper position.
- Mislabeling medication: If a patent is given mislabeled medication, they get the wrong medication. The mistake often happens from the manufacturer.
- Wrong injections: A nurse may inject a senior into a muscle instead of a vein. Sometimes nurses end up injecting the wrong patient.
- Skipping medication.
- Giving expired medication.
If the above happens to a senior, it is more likely that such a patient may get an unexpected medical complication, suffer from organ failure, or even lose their life. For the latter, the designated person may file a wrongful death due to medical malpractice.
Seniors in nursing homes are subjected to many medical errors that have reasonable grounds for medical malpractice cases. However, very few seniors or family members are aware of such mistakes and hence don’t file a compensation claim.
If your senior has been subjected to any of the above medical errors or any other error you believe emanated from negligence, you may file a medical malpractice claim. For your claim, you can show that:
- The liable party was negligent: Just because your senior developed complications after taking a certain medication doesn’t result in negligence. The liable party must have failed to use reasonable care when offering medication. For instance, you need to show that the liable nurse caused your senior injuries and that another prudent nurse would have acted otherwise given the same circumstances.
- The negligence caused your senior’s injuries: In most cases, seniors are taken to nursing homes because they have health conditions. In this case, you need critical evidence to prove that the liable party’s negligence caused your senior injuries. For instance, if a diabetic patient is offered the proper medication but fails to respond to the treatment and succumbs to death, death may not result from negligence.
- The injuries led to loss: If your senior never suffered harm that would result in damages, you will have a hard time proving a medical malpractice claim.
For damages, you may use medical costs for better treatment, pain and suffering undergone by the patient, etc.
Improper medication is one factor that leads to nursing malpractice in nursing home facilities. If a nurse doesn’t follow an order from the doctor, this may lead to the seniors being injured.
Who May Be Responsible For Medication Errors
- The nursing home facility: It may have failed to offer proper training or may have understaffed the nursing facility. Most nursing homes have issues with understaffing. The few employees are always underworked and hence tired. Medication errors are likely to happen when one is overworked.
- The doctor/nurse: Medication errors could be a result of miscommunication between the doctors and the nursing home staff. Or the nurse may have ignored the order given by the doctor and changed the medication.
A doctor has to supervise what the nurse is doing to offer the proper training.
- Medication manufacturers: If a manufacturer label, or pack the wrong medication, and this is administered to a senior, it may cause harm.
The nursing home should be ready to provide nursing home residents with safe and reliable medication methods as these medication errors are preventable. Thus, when a mistake occurs due to negligence, the affected parties may file a claim.
If you have a medical malpractice claim due to medication errors, you can consult a medical malpractice lawyer to determine your claim’s validity to get compensation.