Local Law Firms Home > Medical Malpractice Overview > Medication Errors > Overdose Today's prescription drugs are saving lives on a daily basis. But when too much of a drug is administered and an overdose results, the outcome can be fatal. Prescription drug mistakes and overdoses occur far too often in nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities, pharmacies, and other medical facilities. Overdoses can occur when errors and mix ups can be made in dispensing prescription drugs and administering prescription drugs.
Medication overdoses can also occur when a pharmacist misunderstands the handwriting on a physician's prescription order. For instance, the physician may have written "amoxicillin," for a common antibiotic, for a patient’s condition or illness. The pharmacist may have misread the illegible handwriting as "morphine” or another similar, but completely different medication. The results can cause serious harm or death to the patient. In other cases, a pharmacist may get the medication correct, but may misread the dosage. For example, 100 mg may be misread as 1000 mg, causing the patient to take way too much of the prescribed drug. Did you know? Medication overdoses can occur during hospital visits. Pain medications, for example, are often administered following operations. Too much of a narcotic can result in death.
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