Montlick & Associates, P.C. - Attorneys at Law


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Practice Areas - Pharmacy Malpractice

Nearly 2.5 billion prescriptions were dispensed by pharmacies in the United States in 1998. By way of example, in that State of Massachusetts alone 2.4 million prescriptions are filled improperly each year. Statistics on annual deaths due to medication errors vary anywhere from 44,000 to 98,000 deaths annually. Many factors can cause errors in prescribing medications: unrealistic workloads, too many distractions from ringing telephones and customers, poor penmanship by physicians and inadequate technician assistance. Another major issue is that of drugs with similar names and packaging.

A study of 500 pharmacists done by The Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company showed that 52% of errors were due to the wrong drug being dispensed, 27% were from the wrong strength being dispensed and 7.4% were due to wrong directions being given. A pharmacist who officially fills a prescription may be responsible for incorrectly filling a prescription that causes injury or death because he or she breached the standard of care. Also any technical or clerical co-workers of the pharmacist who failed to act in accordance with proper procedures can be potentially liable. The employing pharmacy can be held liable for the harm caused by the employee in the course and scope of employment. Some states also require pharmacists to counsel with drugstore customers about their prescriptions and its side effects. Some times this is not done or done improperly. A pharmacist can be liable for recommending an improper drug to a customer, which caused harm to that customer. Also a pharmacist has an obligation to detect a combination of drugs that would likely harm a patient. A pharmacist can also be required to recognize when a physician has written a prescription that on its face would be outside the normal dosages recommended by the manufacturer.

The number of pharmaceutical errors can be reduced by patients. Some suggestions include:

reading a prescription before leaving the doctor's office and making sure the writing is clear
having the doctor tell the patient verbally the drug and dosage schedule and compare that with what is written on the prescription form,
asking the pharmacist to read the prescription aloud to the patient before filling the prescription,
read the label on the prescription once it is filled to make sure it reflects what the patient understood it to be,
ask the pharmacist to open the prescription container and confirm the medication inside is the kind and correct dosage of medication that the patient was to receive.

Claims against a pharmacist or pharmacy are complicated and specialized in nature. That is why it is important to hire an attorney to tackle these complex legal issues and to protect your interests. The attorneys at Montlick and Associates, P.C. can do just that for you. You can concentrate on the important things: getting healthy and returning to your day-to-day life while our attorneys take care of the complicated legal issues so that you don't have to worry. We have an experienced qualified staff that is ready to fight for you. The attorneys at Montlick and Associates, P.C. will protect your interests and work hard to get you the most money possible.

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