Most patients end up being admitted to the hospital because their medical providers feel that their situation is dire enough to warrant dedicated care.

Some require specialized treatment, such as medications that can only be administered in a controlled setting. The medical team must be careful in administering these and carefully monitor patients to make sure that they don’t have adverse drug reactions.

Taking time to learn more about common medication errors medical providers make could aid you in falling victim to them or in knowing when to hold a negligent medical provider or pharmacist liable for them.

Common Reasons Why Medication Errors Occur

Doctors, nurses and pharmacists often administer or deliver drugs to patients. Some of the more common mistakes that they make when doing so include:

• Giving a patient the wrong medication for their condition
• Mixing incorrect percentages of a medication, improperly preparing or administering it (when compounding drugs)
• Administering an expired medication
• Failing to confirm allergies, comorbidities or drug interactions before administering a patient a medication
• Giving a patient too little or much of a drug

Any of the errors described above can result in a patient’s medical condition deteriorating or developing other medical conditions. This means that a patient may have to endure unnecessary pain and suffering. Errors like these also result in far more costly medical bills than the patient would otherwise have. They may incur new, future ones depending on how the error impacted them. They lose pay from work as well. They could even die, and their loved ones may also sustain losses due to the lack of companionship from their lost loved one.

Fortunately, Alabama law allows patients to hold doctors and hospitals liable when they don’t exercise a certain standard of care. Find out more about your rights in this situation.