We place our trust in the medical professionals we seek help from to do their best to keep us well. Nowadays there are thousands of conditions and problems that are treated by medication; from the simple drugs like paracetamol to the all important chemotherapy for cancer victims. But what happens when the medication we are given goes wrong? What happens if there is an error made?
Commonly the scenarios are the following:
- You are prescribed the incorrect medication for the problem by a doctor.
- You are given the wrong medication by the pharmacist.
- You were not warned of potential side effects, or not enough investigation was done in to conditions you have or other factors personal to you that could cause an adverse affect (e.g. certain medication could harm during pregnancy).
A medical professional has a duty to properly investigate your symptoms to make sure you are prescribed the right medication. If you are given medication which exacerbates the problem or does not help the problem, you may have a claim if you can prove that the judgment made by the professional was below standard. If other professionals could confirm that they would have treated you in a different way, and that the judgment made by the original professional was poor, there may be a case to answer for. We can normally establish this with expert reports from consultants we instruct as part of your personal injury claim.
For being given the wrong medication by the pharmacist, you may have a fairly strong case. Whether it’s the pharmacist who has misread the prescription, or the doctor who has written down the wrong medication on a form, someone is at fault. If someone is at fault, we can argue there is a case for negligence on behalf of the company the person works for – or the NHS if it’s a NHS professional. Scarily this sort of thing does happen – we’ve pursued claims for it before.
When it comes down to proper warnings being given to you, whether you have a claim or not could all be down to evidence. Your medical records should indicate appropriate warnings that were given, and normally medication has specific warnings on the packaging and in leaflets about potential side effects that could be caused.
For free advice about making a claim for medication errors, call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today.
