Davis Law Group, P.S.

Top 6 Causes for Medication Errors

Most Common Causes of Medication Errors and Overdoses

• Illegible doctor handwriting that makes it difficult to understand prescriptions / orders.
• Use of dangerous, easy-to-misunderstand or confusing abbreviations in orders / chart notes.
• Poor drug selection. Failing to check for contra-indications, drug interactions, etc.
• Failure to follow the ‘Always lead, never follow' rule. When writing dosage amounts the rule of thumb is that a zero should precede a decimal point but not follow one when writing prescriptions. Example: A medication dosage of 1.0 mg may be misinterpreted as 10 mg, if someone fails to see the decimal point. Another example would be a medication written as .1 mg could be misinterpreted as 1 mg if the decimal point is missed, leading to a patient receiving 10 times the amount of medicine needed.
• Not considering renal dosing and not adjusting for decreased liver blood flow.
• Not writing the purpose of the medication on the prescription and inadequate contact information for the pharmacist to follow up with the prescriber if there are any questions or confusion.
  

Seattle Medical Malpractice Attorney

Injuries and death due to medication errors and overdoses in Western Washington hospitals is a much larger problem than generally reported in the media. Hospital administrators thought Washington under-report such incidents. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a medication error in the Seattle area contact medical malpractice attorney Chris Davis at Davis Law Group to schedule a free legal consultation. Call 206-727-4000. The call is free. The information may be priceless.