Overprescription / Erroneous Prescription of Medication Leads to Death

Recently, the family of an elderly New York woman sued a local hospital after one of its employees negligently over-prescribed the woman with a dose of Simvastatin that was nearly 4x her normal prescribed dosage. The woman, 81, suffered had recently suffered a stroke resulting in numbness, loss of sensation and minor paralysis. She was brought by ambulance to the hospital where she was prescribed 80 mg of Simvastatin, a medication that she was taking currently. That dosage, however, was 4x her normal dosage. Over the course of the ensuing several months, the woman began experiencing neck pain and diffuse body stiffness. She was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis and died. The family suded the hospital alleging that the hospital's employee failed to confirm the woman's medications and dosages prior to giving her that medication, despite the fact that the EMTs who responded to the scene and who transported the woman to the hospital had the correct information. A jury subsequently awarded the family $1 million.

Medication errors such as this are alarmingly all too common. Whether the culprits are negligent doctors, negligent nurses, negligent hospitals or negligent pharmacies, thousands of patients each year receive the wrong medications, the wrong dosages and/or medications that cannot be safely taken at the same time. At STSW, our lawyers have successfully handled a number of these cases resulting in serious injuries and hospitalizations to our clients. In one instance, a local pharmacy provided our client with a 400 mg dosage of her medications when the prescription called for only 40 mg dosage. As a result of taking this medication over the course of a week long period, our client required hospitalization for over a week and suffered permanent neurological dysfunction.

If you or a loved one have experienced a serious injury or extended hospitalization as the result of a medication error or prescription error, call our legal team for a free consultation at (410) 385-2225. These cases are often quickly resolved as the errors that are made are readily apparent to all parties.