Whether it stems from an inappropriate dosage, an unforeseen interaction between two medications, or someone receiving the wrong prescription altogether, a medication error by a physician or pharmacist has the potential to cause extensive harm. Unfortunately, these mistakes can also lead to complex malpractice cases, as it can sometimes be unclear exactly where actionable fault lies for the error.
If you suffered physical harm after receiving an incorrect prescription, a Connecticut medication error lawyer can help you enforce your legal right to financial recovery. In addition to helping establish who is to blame for your injuries, your dedicated medical negligence attorney can also work to ensure you obtain restitution for every form of economic and non-economic harm you have faced.
Who Bears Civil Liability for a Medication Error?
Given how many different people are involved in writing and filling a prescription and how highly trained each of them must be to hold that job, it is understandable to think that medication errors seldom occur. However, there are various ways that a patient might get the wrong medicine and sustain substantial physical harm as a result.
The first step to pursuing financial restitution for this kind of error is determining who was involved. If a medication error stems from a doctor not having enough expertise to prescribe the correct medication or neglecting to review a patient’s medical history for contraindications with other drugs they are taking, the doctor or their employer might be at fault.
Conversely, some medication errors trace back to the pharmacy that filled the prescription rather than the doctor who wrote it. For instance, a pharmacy technician may have misread a doctor’s handwriting, mistaken one medication for another, or mixed two prescriptions together. Each of these scenarios might give rise to a different type of suit in Connecticut, so having help from a dedicated attorney who has handled various medication error claims is crucial.
Expert Witness Requirements for Medication Error Claims
Because medication error lawsuits generally fall within the purview of medical malpractice law, special rules apply to this type of case that do not affect other forms of personal injury litigation. For example, malpractice cases require that plaintiffs enlist the help of at least one qualified medical expert while building their claim.
Connecticut General Statutes §52-190a mandates that before filing suit, prospective plaintiffs must make an effort to consult with someone who practices in the same field of medicine as the defendant(s) and has comparable experience and expertise. As a skilled lawyer in Connecticut can explain, this professional must provide an opinion letter confirming that the plaintiff’s medicine error case has merit based on the defendant’s violation of the applicable standards for their field.
Seek Help from a Connecticut Medication Error Attorney
Taking the wrong medication can have negative repercussions far beyond a failure to treat the condition for which you were medicated. Depending on the medication, you might experience debilitating and/or life-threatening symptoms, due to a doctor’s or pharmacist’s failure to act pursuant to the standards of their profession.
Enforcing your right to financial compensation after a mistake like this can be much easier with support from a Connecticut medication error lawyer. Call our office today to speak with a legal advocate.
