In a 2018 article published in The Lancet Oncology, researchers looked at chemotherapy errors from 1980-2017 to find out how common chemotherapy errors are and to identify possible solutions to help prevent future mistakes. According to the article:
- Chemotherapy errors present a potentially serious risk for patients.
- Chemotherapy errors occur at a rate of about one to four for every 1,000 chemotherapy orders.
- Chemotherapy errors affect at least 1-3% of adult and pediatric oncology patients.
- Oral chemotherapy administration is an area of growing concern for chemotherapy-related errors.
While these findings are significant, it may be impossible to report on the full extent of chemotherapy errors.
Chemotherapy Errors Are Underreported
Just a few years before these statistics were published in The Lancet Oncology, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center published an article in the Journal of Oncology Practice. According to these researchers, “Chemotherapy administration in the United States is an unregulated process, and safety assessment remains voluntary, differing widely among medical centers and individual practices.”
Since some chemotherapy errors may be underreported, it is impossible to provide accurate statistics about chemotherapy mistakes. However, we can alert you to the possibility of a chemotherapy injury and provide you with legal help if you are hurt by a doctor’s or nurse’s mistake when prescribing or administering chemotherapy.
What to Do If You Are Harmed by a Chemo Mistake
You have the right to make a full recovery for your injury, regardless of how many other people have been similarly injured. You have the right to work with an experienced chemotherapy overdose injury lawyer to find out exactly how you were hurt and to fight for your fair recovery of past and future medical expenses, lost income, out-of-pocket costs, physical pain, emotional suffering, and other damages, as appropriate.
The Kentucky Statute of Limitations gives you just a short time to file a chemotherapy overdose lawsuit. Therefore, we encourage you to call our chemotherapy injury lawyers at your earliest convenience to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
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