New Haven Medication Error Attorney

We trust doctors and pharmacists to prescribe and dispense the drugs we need. Unfortunately, sometimes that trust is misplaced. Every year, thousands of patients receive the wrong medicine or the wrong dose of the right medicine. The result of such a New Haven medication error can be serious injury or death.

At Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, our lawyers represent individuals and families in cases of medication errors and other types of New Haven medical malpractice. We have been repeatedly recognized as one of “The Best Law Firms” and several of our lawyers have been listed in the publication “The Best Lawyers in America.” We offer a free initial consultation to discuss your case.

Preventable Errors That No One Prevented

New Haven medication errors should never happen. Unfortunately, despite efforts by doctors and pharmacists to prevent errors, mistakes happen every day. The following are examples:

• Prescribing the wrong drug or wrong dose of a drug
• Dispensing the wrong drug or wrong dose of a drug
• Prescribing a drug to which the patient is allergic
• Drug labeling and instruction errors
• Failure to warn patients about drug side effects

In the past, many drug errors were caused by pharmacists misreading the handwriting of doctors. Today, just as many errors result from doctors entering the wrong codes on computers or by pharmacists confusing drugs that have similar names. By holding doctors and hospitals financially accountable for mistakes, the civil justice system can provide a strong motivation to our health care system to minimize errors.

The Difficulty With Medication Error Cases in New Haven

It is very difficult to prove medical malpractice in a medication error case for many reasons, most notably:

1. Medication can be especially tricky because of the way that it is dispensed. For example, your doctor prescribes a medication then sends it off to a pharmacy to be filled. A pharmacy tech fills a medication and a pharmacist checks that it is correct. You go to the pharmacy and pick up the medication. You take the medication, and it causes you permanent injury.In this case, an attorney will need to determine who is to blame for the negligence that caused your injury. Your doctor is only liable if they prescribed the wrong medication. However, if the doctor prescribed the correct medication, but the pharmacist gave you the wrong medication, you would sue the pharmacist.
2. It can also be difficult to prove malpractice in a medication error case unless it caused serious and irreparable harm, such as death. Most medications are known to have side effects, and these side effects can be dangerous. Medicine is not an exact science, and what works for someone else can be very harmful to you. So, you may have suffered a medication injury without the doctor committing malpractice.
3. Medical malpractice lawsuits are very expensive to bring in Connecticut, and an experienced attorney will need to weigh the benefits of bringing a lawsuit. If you have not suffered serious and permanent harm from being prescribed the wrong medication, or the wrong dosage, then it is unlikely that a medical malpractice lawsuit would put any money in your pocket.

Will My New Haven Medication Error Case Succeed?

The only way your medication error claim will succeed is if your attorneys can prove negligence on the part of the medical professionals involved. A medical malpractice attorney cannot say themselves that negligence was committed. Only another doctor can say that. Because of this, medical experts are required for medical malpractice cases.

A medical expert will be hired by your attorney to review your medical records. They will be looking to see if your doctor fell below the standard of care. The standard of care is a baseline to evaluate whether an average doctor would have prescribed the same medication, or the same amount of medication, that your doctor prescribed for you. If the answer to that question is no, then your lawyer can proceed with your case.

How an Experienced Connecticut Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help

It’s normal to wonder whether you have a case against a doctor or pharmacist if you have been harmed because of the wrong medication or dosage. After all, New Haven medication errors can be very harmful, and the medical bills you incur after the error can add up fast.

One thing that can help you get the fairest and most just settlement in your case, as quickly as possible, is having an experienced medical malpractice lawyer on your side. With an experienced personal injury attorney’s help, you can take some of the burdens of pursuing a lawsuit off your shoulders. This will allow you to focus on recovering from your injuries, knowing that we will help you hold the wrongdoers accountable and receive the maximum amount of compensation available to you.

Contact Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante

If you or a member of your family has been injured by a drug prescription or dispensing error, call 203-333-3333, toll free at 888-692-7403 or contact us online. We will thoroughly evaluate your case and advise you of your options. Our law firm collects attorneys’ fees only if we recover compensation for you.