MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE
MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE
Prescription Errors by your GP or Pharmacist: Does any Right of Action Arise?
Most people are familiar with medical negligence which involves an action against doctors, surgeons and perhaps the HSE itself. Risk areas are surgery of most types and obstetrics where problems arise in the delivery of babies often with catastrophic results.
However, most would not be aware that actions can also be brought, often successfully, against Pharmacists and GPs for lapses of professional care in their provision of prescription medication.
There is a wide category of mis-prescription failings essentially coming from two groups i.e. the Pharmacist and Doctor.
A pharmacist may read the prescription incorrectly and dispense say 750 mg instead of 75mg. The doctor can prescribe the wrong medication for you which may in fact exacerbate your underlying illness.
Examples of things that can go wrong:
1. Doctor not aware that a combination of meds may be a high risk for you.
2. Doctor can prescribe too large a dosage for you.
3. Doctor can prescribe without checking your medical records which is clearly careless.
4. Hospitals can issue the wrong meds or another person ‘s meds by mistake. This can compound the original illness with very serious effects.
But why did these go wrong?
1. Poor or inadequate writing on the prescription docket. These are usually written in a sort of shorthand which could easily be misread.
2. Wrong diagnosis/prescription by the doctor.
3. Improper provision of meds by nursing staff in a hospital or nursing home.
But do all these mishaps amount to negligence on the part of the medics?
The answer is simple enough. If the medic or healthcare worker performs his job poorly and below the standards ordinarily expected of him/her, it would be considered negligent if his/her shortcomings damage or prejudice the health of his patient.
In essence, this is what medical negligence is. Whether by act or omission, if a medic carries out his tasks so poorly and well below the standards expected of him, that his actions harm or jeopardise the health of patients, then a case for medical negligence is made.
What is the duty of care of such healthcare providers?
The duty of care resembles the age-old motto of the from otherofession: Do no harm.
The medic, as a healthcare professional, has a duty of care to his/her patient to provide the best medical advice or care he/she can and which can ordinarily or reasonably be expected from other medics having the same professional qualifications.
Medical negligence actions, while common enough, are complex and anyone who might have a potential claim is strongly encouraged to talk to their solicitor at the earliest opportunity.