Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, more commonly known as ADD or ADHD, is a relative newcomer to the world of illnesses and disorders that are now treated medically. Nearly one in ten school-aged children are affected by ADHD in the United States, and over two-thirds of children diagnosed are male.
Forging New Territory: Pharmaceutical Treatment for ADHD
Because of the significant negative effects that ADHD can have on a child’s education and social life, doctors are still divided over the best course of treatment. Most commonly, doctors turn to stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall to address symptoms such as lack of focus and restlessness. As is common in young patients, however, symptoms present themselves in constantly changing ways. This can make finding the proper medication and dosage a challenge, and some doctors think that they have found another option—a very controversial option.
A recent study from the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that the use of antipsychotic medications, like those your son received, is on the rise among children and teens. The only problem with this is that the Food and Drug Administration has only approved the use of antipsychotics in this age group for the treatment of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, irritability associated with autism, and certain symptoms of Tourette syndrome.
This leaves nearly 40 percent of antipsychotic prescriptions among kids and teens in the “off-label” use category—meaning that the FDA has not approved the use of these drugs to treat ADHD. Antipsychotics bring a slew of side effects to the table for young people, including diabetes and weight gain, but long-term effects are not yet known.
While this may be troubling to you as a parent, off-label uses for drugs are legal and fairly common. While it is likely that the pharmacist dispensed the drug properly according to your doctor’s orders, it is worth a call to both the doctor and pharmacist to ensure that the drug was not given in error. This will also give you a chance to discuss your concerns about antipsychotics with your doctor, and determine if that is a route that you want to pursue or abandon.
If your child was harmed by a prescription error, our law firm is available to help you today. Simply click on the live chat feature on this page, and you will receive immediate answers to your questions.
While there is no law in place as of yet requiring doctors to use electronic prescriptions, most in the medical field have changed from handwritten prescriptions to electronic prescriptions. This is because electronic prescriptions are thought to help reduce medication errors over handwritten prescriptions.
Although handwritten prescriptions can be messy and ineligible—leaving you and the pharmacist to make guesses as to what the pediatrician prescribed—electronic prescriptions aren’t completely safe either. While there are fewer errors that can occur with electronic prescriptions, mistakes have been made. For example, a doctor could accidentally select the wrong medication name from the drop down menu or the wrong dosage due to a slip of the mouse.
While you can ask your pediatrician to start using electronic prescriptions, his office might not be set up with the correct technology. However, if the office has the computer software required and the capability to send electronic prescriptions to your local pharmacy and the doctor starts using this method of communicating with the pharmacy, it is still in your best interest to ask the pediatrician about the medication he prescribed for your daughter. By getting the brand name, generic name, and dosage information from the doctor, you will be able to determine if the medication is correct or incorrect when you pick it up from the pharmacy.
If a doctor’s messy handwriting or a pharmacy error adversely affected your daughter, you should get your hands on a free copy of our book, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.
It depends. Just sleep alone might not qualify you to receive monetary damages; however, if you went to the emergency room or your child’s primary care doctor, you may be entitled to reimbursement for your medical bills associated with the pharmacy error.
Sometimes excessive sleep can be a sign that your daughter received a powerful toxin—which could damage her liver. This is why it is critical that you have your child thoroughly examined by a doctor to determine if she is suffering from a toxic overdose.
In the meantime, it is important that you keep the prescription bottle, label, instructions, and anything elses you received at the pharmacy. This will help prove that the pharmacy did give your daughter the incorrect medication dosage. Also, this evidence will help strengthen your case if you do decide to pursue a legal claim.
If it is determined that your daughter suffered harm from receiving the incorrect dosage of drugs, then your family may be entitled to financial compensation for medical bills, rehabilitation, pain and suffering, and other damages. Because these types of cases can be complex, it is in your best interest to speak with an attorney experienced in pharmacy malpractice claims.
A lawyer who has represented prescription drug error victims will be able to help you seek justice and make sure this type of pharmacy error doesn’t occur to another child or family. For answers to other questions you may have, download a free copy of our report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.
While we understand that this is a shocking discovery for you to make, it is great that you caught the pharmacy error and can seek help. While you are probably panicking that you gave your daughter an incorrect dose of medication, take a deep breath and read the following recommendations.
First, you may want to call your local Poison Control Center and tell them the name of the medication that your daughter has been taking, the dosage, how long she has been taking the wrong dosage, and your daughter’s age and weight. Poison Control will inform you if your child is in danger, if you should make your daughter vomit, or if you should take your child to the ER.
When in doubt, always seek a medical evaluation. While it may take time to sit in the emergency room and money to undergo tests, it is critical to do so, so that you will learn if your daughter will suffer from dangerous side effects of a toxic dose—an overdose. Depending on what the doctor indicates, you might want to file a lawsuit against the pharmacy if your daughter has suffered harmful side effects as a result of an incorrect dosage.
Even if your daughter hasn’t suffered life-threatening injuries, you may still want to file a claim against the negligent pharmacy for your medical bills and emotional trauma the incident caused. Make sure you report your concern to the pharmacy manager; however, do not sign any forms or give them back the wrong medication. Keep it for proof in case you want to pursue a claim.
Because most lawyers give free consultations, it is wise to call a pharmacy error lawyer to find out more about your rights and what you should do. For more information, please order a free copy of our report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.
If your son or daughter was prescribed acetaminophen for cough and cold symptoms, there are some things you should know about giving children too much acetaminophen. Many people are not worried about this drug because it is the active ingredient in Tylenol; however, an acetaminophen overdose is easy to do, especially when a spoon is used. Unfortunately, it is a common drug dosage error spooned up to children.
Sometimes children receive too much medication, such as acetaminophen, in the following ways:
- Parents use the wrong size spoon instead of the correct instrument to measure out the liquid medication.
- Children get their hands on the bottle and think it’s a drink or candy.
- Doctors prescribe an adult dose of the drug to a child.
- Pharmacists fill the incorrect dose or don’t catch a doctor’s dosing mistake.
When children ingest too much acetaminophen, there are serious consequences, such as a toxic reaction and the liver’s ability to process too much acetaminophen. Although it may not seem like a life-threatening concern, an excessive overdose of liquid acetaminophen can cause serious life-threatening liver problems. In fact, health complications like liver failure or death can occur. Sometimes, the liver is severely damaged from taking too much acetaminophen that a liver transplant is required.
This is why it is important that doctors prescribe the correct dose and pharmacists accurately fill a child’s dosage. It is also critical that parents check the medication for accuracy—verifying their child’s information—and only give kids this medication according to the directions and with the correct measuring device.
If your child suffered due to an acetaminophen overdose due to a pharmacy error, please contact Kennedy Hodges to speak with a pharmacy malpractice attorney at 888-526-7616 for a free consultation today.
Unfortunately, there are breakdowns during the dispensing process involving adult and child prescriptions. The reasons vary, but pediatric medication mistakes could be caused by one of the following:
- Leaving prescription information on voicemail. When doctor’s offices phone in prescriptions, they sometimes leave the order on a pharmacy’s voicemail. When the doctor’s office doesn’t spell out the drug name, sound out the dose, provide the indication, and use both generic and brand names on the voicemail, pharmacy errors can occur. This is because the person listening to the voicemail can interpret the prescription name differently due to an accent, mumbling, or background noise. Instead, pharmacies should ask for the necessary information on their outgoing voicemail greeting to reduce the risk.
- Failure to scan the original prescription. When pharmacies do not scan in the original prescription image, dispensing errors during refills can occur due to mistakes as data entry is completed. To avoid this, having the original prescription image displayed for verification can reduce dispensing errors during the refill process.
- Multitasking. When pharmacists work on filling more than one prescription at a time, the wrong medication can get dispensed, and dosage mistakes can occur. In order to reduce this, pharmacists and pharmacy techs should only fill one prescription at a time.
- Pulling the wrong stock medication off of the shelf. When pharmacy techs and pharmacists fill medication, sometimes they grab the wrong medication because it sounds-alike or looks-alike.
- Failing to provide patient counseling. Because pharmacists are so busy, they do not volunteer patient counseling; however, many mistakes are often caught during this stage of the process.
Because child medication mistakes can occur at the pharmacy level, parents need to pull the medication out of the bag, check the label for the right drug name and information. If your child has been injured due to a pharmacy error, please call Kennedy Hodges to speak with an experienced pharmacy malpractice lawyer at 888-526-7616 for a free consultation today.
While electronic prescribing does help reduce pharmacy errors by preventing confusion over hard-to-read prescriptions, medication mistakes can still happen and cause children to suffer as a result. Sometimes, the wrong dosage is selected by the doctor and sent to the pharmacist incorrectly at the very beginning; however, most wrong medication errors occur at the pharmacy level.
Pharmacists are sometimes overworked and in a hurry. When this happens, they may misread a prescription and fill an adult dosage for a child. Other times, pharmacists may read the prescription and then reach for a sound-alike or look-alike medication by mistake. Unfortunately there is a lot going on at pharmacies that can cause distractions, which can lead to child medication errors in Texas.
Sometimes a pharmacist may accidently grab another person’s medication and hand it to you. Here are a few tips to make sure you’re receiving the correct medication:
- When you are handed the prescription, be sure to check the label on the bottle or box to make sure the correct name is listed.
- Read the label and repeat back to the pharmacist the name of the drug, and ask if this is correct.
- If the prescription is in pill form, open the bottle or box, and take out a pill. Show it to the pharmacist and ask if this is the pill that matches the prescription.
- Look over the instructions for taking the medicine, and don’t be afraid to ask for clarification on dosaging.
- If the patient is taking any other over-the-counter or prescription medications, be sure to ask the pharmacist if there may be any drug interactions.
If your child has suffered at the hands of a negligent pharmacist, you have rights to pursue a pharmacy malpractice claim for damages. To find out about your rights, please call an experienced pharmacy error attorney at Kennedy Hodges today: 888-526-7616. You can also fill out an online website form to receive a FREE copy of our report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.
Yes. If your daughter was harmed in any way due to a negligent pharmacist or pharmacy technician, you should have the right to recover your daughter’s medical expenses. However, since your daughter is still in the hospital, it is wise to wait to file a claim or pursue compensation until you know the full extent of her injuries or if she suffered any long-term damages. In the meantime, report the error to the pharmacy and keep the incorrectly labeled bottle for proof.
Unfortunately, pharmacists type wrong information on prescription labels far too often. Sometimes, the labels contain the wrong instructions, wrong dose, or other wrong information that could cause patients to overdose and suffer because of the mistake. If your daughter received too much medication or the wrong medication as a result of this labeling error, you and your family should have rights to compensation.
Whenever patients suffer sickness, injuries, or death as a result of a pharmacy error, patients or their families have rights to pursue legal claims for damages. Pharmacists that are careless should be held responsible for their mistakes. Even though a pharmacist didn’t mean to cause your daughter harm, he or she didn’t do his or her job ensuring the label was correct. When pharmacy errors occur, negligent pharmacists need to be held accountable for the injuries they caused.
For help making sure your family gets fair compensation for the wrongs your daughter suffered, please call Kennedy Hodges, L.L.P. for assistance. Our pharmacy error lawyers will provide you with a complimentary case consultation to discuss your case in more detail. Call us at 888-526-7616 today.
Research shows that antibiotics are powerful. Antibiotics are intended to fight bacterial infections; however, kids are often given antibiotics like candy resulting in many children taking antibiotics unnecessarily. Some children also suffer from side effects of antibiotics that include diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and headaches.
Another side effect of taking antibiotics is that some children have allergic reactions. Parents should watch their children for hives, an itchy rash, or breathing difficulties. Also, babies often suffer from common complications of using antibiotics including yeast infection, oral thrush or thrush diaper rash.
Every time your child takes antibiotics unnecessarily, such as in the case of a common cold, your child’s chances of suffering from the drug’s side effects increase, and he or she may need stronger antibiotics in the future because each dose increases a child’s resistance to antibiotics.
The other concern is that every time a child has to visit the pharmacy, there is a risk of him or her receiving the wrong medication. This error can happen due to a pharmacist or technician multitasking, not reading the prescription carefully, or switching your child’s antibiotics with another patient’s medication.
If your child has suffered from receiving the wrong prescription or from a pharmacist’s negligence, please call a pharmacy malpractice lawyer at Kennedy Hodges, L.L.P. at 888-526-7616 for a free case consultation and request a FREE copy of our report, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.
Pharmacies are increasingly using more pharmacy technicians to assist pharmacists in the filling of prescriptions. Many retail chain pharmacies have found that using technicians to help keep their pharmacies running is more cost-effective than hiring more pharmacists. In fact, 71% of the nearly 300,000 pharmacy technicians working in the nation are employed by retail pharmacies, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Technicians perform many pharmacy-related tasks and work as liaisons between patients and pharmacists. Often times, patients will be talking to a pharmacy technician assuming they are speaking with a pharmacist. While pharmacy technicians are essential in the medical industry, they have to work under the direct supervision of a licensed pharmacist.
Pharmacists have more education than technicians, can counsel patients about potential side effects, and perform drug reviews. Pharmacy technicians are not supposed to give patients any advice. However, pharmacy technicians are handling more and more responsibilities that were once suited only for pharmacists. A pharmacy technician may fill a prescription; however, the pharmacist on duty is required to check the medication before it is handed out to a customer.
When something goes wrong and a child or adult receives the wrong medication or the wrong dose of medicine, the pharmacist is the one who will likely be liable for negligence, even if the technician is the one who filled the prescription.
If your child received the wrong medication or incorrect dose of medicine, whether it was the technician or pharmacist’s fault, call a skilled drug error attorney at Kennedy Hodges, L.L.P. to discuss your rights. We will provide you with answers to your questions during a free consultation. Call us at 888-526-7616 today.