When people think of medication errors, they usually think of someone being given the wrong medication. For instance, perhaps you needed a blood thinner to combat blood clots, but then you were accidentally given a different solution. It did not treat the blood clots, putting you in a potentially dangerous situation. In some cases, blood clots can even be fatal.
It is true that many errors happen this way, with people getting the wrong medications or getting something that they don’t need – or not getting what they do need, as in the example above – but that’s not the only way that it can happen. Errors can still be made even when the doctors have the right drug in hand.
How much were you told to take?
Perhaps the clearest example of this is when it comes to the dose that you’re told to take. Some medications are very safe at a standard dose, but there could be severe complications if you take too much.
If a doctor tells you to take two pills every day when you’re only supposed to take one, what type of complications are going to arise? If you’re told that you can take something every four hours when you’re only supposed to take it every 24 hours, how serious are the ramifications going to be when you accidentally take six times as much as you’re supposed to? The drug is the correct one, but you can still be at risk.
Medications are very serious and any small mistake can be extremely hazardous. It’s important for you to understand all of your legal options if you’ve been harmed through a doctor’s mistake.