Patients count on healthcare providers to ensure they’re receiving the correct medications. When a patient receives the wrong medication, the results can be disastrous. Although some patients may only suffer mild side effects, not everyone is so lucky.
Patients who receive the wrong medication are at risk of experiencing a life-threatening reaction, overdose, organ damage, worsening illness, or death.
Medication mistakes can happen in hospitals, emergency rooms, nursing homes, pharmacies, surgery centers, clinics, and long-term care facilities. Errors involving the wrong medication being given to a patient often occur due to weak safety systems, human error, fatigue, poor communication, staffing problems, and unsafe prescribing, dispensing, administering, or monitoring practices.
Symptoms of Being Given the Wrong Medication
Some symptoms can appear quickly, while others develop over a few hours or days. Patients and families should take sudden or unusual changes seriously after a new medication is given.
Common warning signs may include:
- Rash, hives, itching, swelling, or signs of an allergic reaction.
- Trouble breathing, wheezing, throat tightness, or chest tightness.
- Dizziness, fainting, confusion, or sudden weakness.
- Severe drowsiness, unusual sedation, or trouble waking up.
- Agitation, hallucinations, mood changes, or unusual behavior.
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or severe stomach pain.
- Headache, blurred vision, tremors, or seizures.
- Fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat.
- Very high or very low blood pressure.
- Low blood sugar symptoms include sweating, shaking, confusion, or loss of consciousness.
- Unusual bleeding, bruising, black stools, or blood in vomit or urine.
- Chest pain, shortness of breath, or stroke-like symptoms.
- Fever, worsening infection, or failure to improve because the correct medication was not given.
- Kidney problems, decreased urination, swelling, or sudden fluid retention.
- Liver problems, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, or severe fatigue.
- Coma, respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, or death in severe cases.
Injuries Caused by Incorrect Medication Errors
As with symptoms, the injuries caused when a patient receives the wrong medication depend on the drugs involved. Depending on the medication, a patient may experience injuries to the brain, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys, liver, or immune system.
For example, the wrong medication may cause a severe allergic reaction, also known as anaphylaxis. This condition is known to cause swelling, airway blockage, low blood pressure, shock, and death if not treated quickly.
A wrong sedative, opioid, anesthesia-related drug, or muscle relaxant may slow or stop breathing. If the brain does not receive enough oxygen, the patient may suffer permanent brain damage.
Blood thinners, heart medications, seizure medications, insulin, chemotherapy drugs, and strong antibiotics can be especially dangerous when given incorrectly, as doses are carefully calculated. These drugs may cause uncontrolled bleeding, heart rhythm problems, seizures, organ failure, dangerously low blood sugar, severe infection complications, or toxic reactions.
The patient may also be harmed because they did not receive the medication they actually needed. For instance, if a patient with a serious infection receives the wrong drug, the infection may worsen. If a stroke, heart attack, seizure, or allergic reaction is treated with the wrong medication, the delay in proper care can actually make the injury worse.
Medical Malpractice That Can Lead to the Wrong Medication Being Given
Administering the incorrect medication may constitute malpractice when a healthcare provider fails to follow accepted standards of care and that failure harms the patient.
Possible medical malpractice may include:
- Failing to confirm the patient’s identity before giving medication.
- Giving medication to the wrong patient.
- Failing to check the medication label before administration.
- Ignoring barcode scanning alerts or electronic medication warnings.
- Selecting the wrong medication from a medication cart, pharmacy shelf, or automated dispensing cabinet.
- Confusing two drugs with similar names or packaging.
- Failing to review the patient’s allergies before giving the drug.
- Failing to check for dangerous drug interactions.
- Giving a medication that conflicts with the patient’s diagnosis or medical history.
- Failing to review kidney or liver function before giving a high-risk drug.
- Misreading or miscommunicating a doctor’s order.
- Transcribing or entering the wrong medication into the chart.
- Dispensing the wrong prescription at a pharmacy.
- Failing to properly label, store, or separate high-risk medications.
- Failing to monitor the patient after the wrong medication was given.
- Failing to respond quickly when the patient showed signs of harm.
- Covering up, delaying, or failing to disclose a medication mistake.
Incorrect Medication FAQs
Is giving the wrong medication medical malpractice?
There are a few factors that determine whether giving the wrong medication is a case of medical malpractice. It largely depends on whether the healthcare provider failed to follow the accepted standards of care and the patient was harmed.
Malpractice can involve failing to confirm the patient’s identity, ignoring allergy warnings, dispensing the wrong prescription, misreading a medication order, or giving a drug without checking the chart.
However, not every medical reaction is caused by malpractice. Some effects happen even when the medical staff did everything by the book.
A malpractice case usually depends on what went wrong, whether the mistake was preventable, and whether the wrong medication caused injury.
What should I do if I think I was given the wrong medication?
The first thing you should do is seek medical attention if you start having serious symptoms such as trouble breathing, chest pain, swelling, confusion, fainting, seizures, severe drowsiness, or signs of an allergic reaction. Once you’re feeling better, you should document as much as you can about what happened.
Write down the name of the medication, when it was given, who gave it, what symptoms occurred, and what treatment was needed. Save the prescription bottles, discharge papers, medication lists, pharmacy receipts, and take photos of labels if possible. Be sure to ask for copies of your medical records and pharmacy records.
Who can be responsible for an incorrect medication error?
A doctor may order the wrong medication. A nurse may give medication to the wrong patient. A pharmacist may fill a prescription with the wrong drug. A hospital may have unsafe medication storage, poor staffing, broken scanning systems, or weak safety policies. A nursing home may fail to follow medication administration records or properly identify residents before giving drugs.
Depending on the facts of your case, multiple parties can be held responsible. In some cases, responsibility may involve both individual negligence and system failures. A review of the records can help determine who knew what and when. From there, it can be determined who can and should be held responsible.
Can a pharmacy be liable for giving the wrong medication?
Yes, a pharmacy can be liable if it dispenses the wrong drug and the patient is harmed. Common pharmacy errors can happen when drug names look or sound alike, the pharmacist enters the prescription incorrectly, an incorrect label is placed on the bottle, staff fail to verify the prescription, or counseling is not provided when it should be.
A pharmacy can also be held responsible if it ignores allergy warnings, interaction alerts, or clear red flags in the prescription. The label, bottle, receipt, and pharmacy records may be key evidence when building a medical malpractice case.
What records can help prove a wrong-medication case?
Important records may include physician orders, medication administration records, pharmacy dispensing records, barcode scan logs, nursing notes, vital sign records, allergy lists, lab results, discharge instructions, and emergency treatment records.
Other important evidence can include prescription bottles, medication packaging, photos, witness statements, and written timelines. In cases involving a hospital or nursing home, internal incident reports may exist, but are often difficult for patients to obtain. These records are important because they can show what medication was supposed to be given, what was actually given, who handled it, and how the patient was harmed.
Why should patients contact Weisser Law if they suspect medical malpractice played a role?
Hospitals, pharmacies, and insurance companies may not clearly explain what happened or who was responsible. That’s where the team at Weisser Law steps in. We can investigate the medication order, pharmacy records, administration records, warnings, symptoms, and the healthcare team’s response.
Our award-winning firm has won millions for medical malpractice victims across Florida. Our review of your case will determine whether the mistake violated accepted medical safety standards and whether the patient may have a claim for damages. We’ll help you understand the options in front of you and establish a realistic value of your case, not what the insurance company wants to pay.