Columbia Pharmacy Malpractice Lawyer
In South Carolina, pharmacists can be held liable for causing injury to their patients. Whether you were given the wrong type of medication, the wrong dose, or a combination of medications that are dangerous to take together, you have the ability to file a personal injury medical malpractice claim against the pharmacist who made that dangerous error. Our Columbia pharmacy malpractice lawyers at Simmons Law Firm assist clients who have been harmed by pharmacist and hospital negligence, and are here to discuss your options for compensation.
Duties of Pharmacists
- Filling prescriptions;
- Educating and warning the patient about the medication and how to take it;
- Reviewing the patient’s medical history;
- Screening other prescriptions the patient is taking, and ensuring that there are no harmful crossovers;
- Discussing the patient’s health with the patient’s doctor or other healthcare providers when necessary; and
- More.
The Facts About Pharmacy Negligence
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) cause up to 106,000 deaths annually in the United States, according to the Food and Drug Administration, and well over two million patients suffer injury or illness from ADRs each year. Many of these deaths and injuries are not foreseeable—a patient may have a rare immune response to a certain medication that their doctor or pharmacist could not have known about. Other injuries and fatalities caused by adverse drug reactions, however, are foreseeable and easily preventable had the healthcare team, including the patient’s pharmacist, done their jobs to the high standard of care that the patient deserved.
Examples of Pharmacist Malpractice
- Filling the wrong prescription;
- Distributing too much of a medication;
- Failure to recognize drug abuse by the patient, and continuing to fill the prescription;
- Failure to recognize the patient’s medical history or take into account other prescriptions the patient is currently taking; and
- More.
Pharmacists Have Helped Fuel the Opioid Epidemic
Over the past decade, the opioid epidemic has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, and the problem is only getting worse. In 2010, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse around 21,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. By 2020, that number had increased to over 93,000 Americans, representing a more than four-fold increase. Drug manufacturers, specifically Purdue, are largely to blame, having pushed their dangerous and heavily addictive products on people who do not need them in such great quantities. Doctors and pharmacists are also negligent in causing the opioid epidemic. “Pill mill” clinics over-prescribe opioids to patients who are addicted to opioids, and these patients often seek out pharmacists who are in on it, or should at least know better than to fill such large doses on a monthly basis to the same patients, over and over again.
Contact a Pharmacists Malpractice Attorney at Simmons Law Firm Today
Pharmacists have a great responsibility in giving out the proper medication and during their due diligence in ensuring that the medications they fill are not putting the patient at risk. If you or a loved one were harmed by a pharmacist’s negligence, contact our Columbia Simmons Law Firm pharmacist malpractice attorneys today at 803-779-4600 to schedule a free consultation.
