People trust nursing homes and assisted living facilities to watch after their aging relatives and care for their medical needs. One of the most important ways that these businesses serve their patients is by properly administering the correct medication, on time and in accordance with the doctor’s instructions. But what happens when the nursing home makes a mistake concerning the medication?
In many cases, the patient (or their loved ones acting on their behalf) can take legal action and assert a negligence claim against the nursing home. However, proving negligence requires more than showing that a mistake was made. If a nursing home in Flagstaff, West Valley, or Buckeye, AZ harmed your family member, find out how the Gill Law Firm can fight for you.
Common Examples of Nursing Home Medication Errors
If your parent or other relative resides in a nursing home facility, and they take medication, you should be aware of the various ways that nurses and staff members can make mistakes. They include:
- Dosage errors: Giving too much or too little of a prescription drug can be fatal or ineffective for treating the medical condition.
- Wrong medication: Obviously, it’s a major mistake to give a patient the wrong medication, causing potentially deadly results or serious side effects.
- Frequency errors: Sometimes, the correct medicine can be given, but not at the right times or intervals.
- Incorrectly administering the medicine: The way in which the medicine is to be delivered to the patient (e.g. orally versus intravenously) could make a significant difference.
- Insufficient patient information: When prescribing medications rather than simply administering them, the nursing home should have the patient’s full medical history and other information.
- Drug interactions: One specific detail that the nursing home should have is a list of other medications the patient is taking, to avoid harmful side effects and interactions.
- Poor record-keeping: Nurses and staff should keep detailed notes about the medications they administer to prevent double dosages and other mistakes.
- Expired medications: It’s important to make sure that the medicine given to the patient isn’t expired, otherwise it could cause injury or fail to treat the condition.
Proving That the Mistake Was Negligence
If a nursing home in Flagstaff, West Valley, or Buckeye, AZ makes a medication mistake, it will be up to the patient’s family to show that this amounted to negligence for which compensation should be paid. Having an experienced personal injury lawyer can help in the following ways:
- Investigating the facts surrounding the error: This is important to gaining an understanding of who exactly was responsible for the mistake, how it happened, and who can potentially be named as a defendant in a negligence lawsuit.
- Learning about the nursing home’s policies and procedures: A critical component in holding the nursing home accountable is determining what their policies and procedures were concerning medications, and whether they were violated.
- Showing that the nursing home breached its duty of care: If the error happened due to a negligent act or omission, then the victim’s family can argue that the nursing home violated the duty of care it owed to the victim.
- Understanding how your loved one was harmed: It’s important to fully appreciate the extent of the injuries inflicted upon your loved one due to the medication error, and what sort of medical treatments may be required to address them.
- Showing causation: An important element of a negligence case is causation, which means establishing a causal link between the negligent act or omission and the injuries that your loved one experienced.
- Valuing your case: Seeking compensation requires proving damages (including reasonably estimated future damages) and how much they are worth, and your attorney will likely call upon an expert witness to assist.
Let Us Handle Your Nursing Home Negligence Case
No patient deserves to be harmed by a mistake involving medication, yet it is sadly quite common for Arizona nursing homes. If this has happened to your parent or other relative, find out how the dedicated personal injury lawyers of the Gill Law Firm can help you seek compensation. Call or contact us online today to get started.