According to a federal survey, almost 120 million Americans use prescription drugs.
With so many drugs being dispensed, mistakes are bound to occur, and patients sometimes suffer completely avoidable injuries as a result.
If you have been given a wrong prescription, then you might be entitled to compensation.
Meet with an attorney to discuss whether you can sue the doctor who prescribed the medicine or the pharmacy that dispensed it.
The Basics of a Lawsuit
Before suing, you should check whether you tick off all the boxes for bringing a negligence lawsuit against someone:
- The person you want to sue owed you a duty of care. You have satisfied this requirement if the person is a doctor who agreed to treat you or a pharmacy that welcomed your business. However, if your sister gave you a drug to take, then you might not automatically satisfy this requirement.
- The person you sue failed to use sufficient care. For example, a doctor might have prescribed the wrong medicine for your ailment or he might not have checked your allergies before writing a script. Likewise, a pharmacist might not have realized that the drug will interact negatively with other drugs you are currently taking.
- You suffered an injury. Usually, injuries are physical—you became sick, went into a coma, did not get well, etc. because of the wrong prescription. In some situations, severe emotional distress might also qualify even without a physical injury.
- Giving you the wrong prescription caused your injury. You might have become deathly ill but the prescription isn’t to blame, in which case you don’t have a lawsuit.
It’s hard to analyze these facts on your own, so meet with a qualified attorney who can analyze the specifics of your case.
Compensation for Your Injuries
If you got a wrong prescription, compensation can include:
- The cost to treat your injury or illness that you incurred because of the wrong prescription
- The loss of income if you had to miss work
- The pain and suffering you experienced
- Your emotional distress
Some prescription errors do not really cause meaningful injuries, so bringing a lawsuit is not always the best course of action. Discuss different options with your lawyer.
Can You Sue a Pharmacy for Giving You the Wrong Prescription?
Yes. If the pharmacy did not exercise sufficient care and injured you, then you can sue them. Pharmacies can make many kinds of errors:
- Receive the correct prescription from the doctor but give you the wrong medication or the wrong dosage
- Incorrectly label prescription drug bottles, leading to a mix-up (you get someone else’s prescription)
- They don’t screen adequately to ensure you do not receive a prescription that could harm you
Pharmacies, like doctors, don’t like to admit when they make mistakes, so you might need a lawyer to do a little digging to uncover what mistake was made and who made it. Generally, you can sue either the pharmacist or the pharmacy, or both. Pharmacies make tens of thousands of mistakes every year given the high volume of prescription drugs that they handle.
Contact Greenville, NC Attorney Albritton Today
We are an established North Carolina personal injury law firm that has deep experience with medical malpractice cases involving wrong prescriptions. Doctors and pharmacies aggressively defend themselves from any accusation they made a mistake, so you need a seasoned advocate in your corner who will stand up for your rights.
Contact Attorney Albritton of Irons & Irons P.A. today for a free consultation. We can review your case and identify whether your claim against a doctor or pharmacy is valid. Please avoid delay, since North Carolina gives injured victims a short time limit for pursuing a claim for compensation.