Albuquerque Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Nobody's perfect, right? That's not a bad thought -- unless you're talking about someone whose mistakes could literally mean life or death for another human being. Pharmacists have to exercise considerable care during their daily work because a single mistake can be devasting.

Unfortunately, pharmacists have so much reason to fear the consequences of a mistake that they may try to hide their errors -- even when someone gets hurt. As a patient or the caretaker of a patient, it's always wise to be on the watch for these common pharmacy errors:

1. Mistaking a teaspoon for a tablespoon and inadvertantly tripling the dosage on a medication's directions
2. Under-dosing, or accidentally directing a patient to take too little of a certain drug -- which can be just as dangerous for patients with certain conditions, like high blood pressure, as an overdose
3. Dispensing a fast-acting drug instead of a slow-release drug, such as fast-acting insulin, which can cause dangerous and unexpected reactions in some people
4. Dispensing a "like-name" drug instead of the intended prescription, such as giving a patient the painkiller codeine instead of the steroid lodine
5. Dispensing a "look-alike" drug, which can happen with generics that tend to be all-white and easily confused for other all-white pills of the same general size and shape
6. Calculation errors when a drug is compounded to a specific formula or has to be pre-mixed by the pharmacist before dispensing
7. Excessive dosages, where the doctor prescribes too much but the pharmacist should have recognized the error
8. Dispensing a medication to a patient with a known allergic reaction to some component in that drug
9. Dispensing medication that, in combo with other medications the patient is using, turns lethal.

Consistent pain and other problems could indicate that you may have a medical issue that may require medication or some type of treatment. When you think something is wrong, you probably call your New Mexico doctor and make an appointment to see him or her as soon as possible. When you do this, you trust that you will get the right diagnosis and the specific type of treatment you need.

Unfortunately, this does not always happen. Doctors sometimes make mistakes, and they may miss certain signs that indicate that you have a specific illness or medical condition. Misdiagnosis can lead to a progression of your illness, which can lead to long-term harm, additional pain and prolonged suffering. In some cases, misdiagnosis is medical malpractice, which could be grounds for a civil claim.

The sudden loss of a loved one is a tragic situation. When you are faced with this, there isn't any telling exactly how you will deal with it. You have to be sure that you are taking care of yourself because you might be shocked at the wide range of emotions you feel. You shouldn't ignore those feelings because doing so can consume you. Instead, it is best if you take the time to address them and try to cope with them, so you can move forward with life.

You might not experience all of these emotions right away when you lose your loved one. Instead, it might take a few days for them to start. This is because you might feel shock at first. It may seem as though the person isn't really gone, which can make it hard for the grieving to start.

Emergency room care depends largely on the doctors who work in the department. The problem is that they don't always provide the care that the patient needs to avoid suffering more harm. There are several reasons for this, but each of these is manageable if the hospital puts proper protocols in place to keep their patients safe.

The number of hours these doctors work is one of the primary hazards to patients. As a doctor works through the hours on long shifts, they become more fatigued. This can lead to errors in judgment, which can negatively impact patient care.