If you were given the wrong medication at your Kentucky pharmacy, the pharmacist may have contacted you to apologize. The pharmacy is his business, he said, and anything that goes wrong is his responsibility.
However, when you mentioned legal action, he may have sung a very different tune.
The truth is, pharmacists may be held liable for a number of prescription drug mistakes, including dispensing the wrong drug, filling an improper dosage, or transcribing incorrect instructions on your medication label. Even if a staff member made the mistake, your pharmacist is required to discover and amend all errors before they have a chance to cause a patient harm.
Here are three responsibilities that your pharmacist must perform to avoid a prescription drug mistake in Louisville:
- Accurate dispensing of medication. While any member of pharmacy staff may hand out medication, pharmacists must oversee the filling and dispensing of all prescriptions. This means he may be held liable for dosage errors, wrong medication mistakes, or poorly labeled prescriptions.
- Patient counseling. You’ve probably heard a pharmacy tech ask you if you have any questions for the pharmacist. This is not simply a legal protection for the pharmacy: your pharmacist must be available to answer any and all questions you have, including the name of your medicine, why it was prescribed, how to take it, the risk of potential side effects and drug interactions.
- Proper staff supervision. Pharmacists command high salaries. In order to save money, a pharmacy may hire only one pharmacist to oversee ten to fifteen pharmacy technicians. This increases the dependence on technicians, which in turn increases the potential for error.
The attorneys at Gray and White understand that you are not looking to ruin a business; you just want justice for the injury the pharmacy mistake has caused you and your family. We can help you get compensation for your suffering, and ensure that a similar medication mistake will not happen to someone else in the future. Call us today at (800) 634-8767 or fill out the contact form on the top of this page to start your FREE consultation.