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University Study Shows 3.7 Million Medication Errors A Year Possible In United States

An Auburn University pharmacy study projected the odds of getting a prescription with a serious, health-threatening error at about 1 in 1,000. That equates to roughly 3.7 million such errors each year in the United States. Corporate policies rewarding fast work and staffing cuts to increase company profits are major contributors to medication errors. Although most pharmacies have, or at least should have, mulitple safeguards in place to catch an error, too often the safe gurads break down or are not caught until it is too late. Common factors that contribute to an increase in medication errors are:

-Too many presciptions and too few pharmacists
-Pharmacies emphasizing speed
-Too much reliance on technitions
-Pharmacies paying bonuses based on presciption volume filled
-Decrease in face-to-face counseling at phramacies

Gray and White Law has represented many families that are victims of medication error caused by negligence or corporate greed. Urge your state representatives and pharmacy boards to help reduce medication errors.

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