Pharmacies are supposed to help patients heal, but in many cases, the pharmacy causes more harm than good. Recently, a 6-year-old Texas girl died after her pharmacy allegedly gave her a medication dose that was 10 times higher than intended. This was a tragic accident that could have easily been avoided with more diligent pharmacy procedures.

Unfortunately, pharmacy errors like this happen more often than we would like to believe. In fact, at least 1 in every 100 prescriptions may involve a harmful pharmaceutical error. Pharmaceutical errors can cause serious health issues and injuries and may even result in death. Consider the following:

Types of pharmacy error

There are many pharmacy errors that can result in patients putting a dangerous drug or dosage into their bodies. The most common errors include providing the wrong dosage of the correct drug, providing a medication to which the patient is allergic and providing the wrong drug entirely. In many cases, these mistakes can be serious or even fatal.

Causes of pharmacy error

There are a number of factors that can contribute to prescription error at a pharmacy. According to a recent report, the most common factors include the following:

• Lack of pharmacy support personnel
• High prescription volume
• Pharmaceuticals that look alike or sound alike
• Insufficient time to consult with the patient and establish the person’s medical history
• Illegible handwriting
• Fatigue
• Distractions

There are many parties who may be liable following an injury or death from a dangerous drug, including the pharmacy, the prescribing doctor or even the pharmaceutical manufacturer. This can result in a large sum of monetary compensation, including medical expenses, loss of wages, rehabilitation costs, and pain and suffering.

If you or a loved one was injured by a pharmaceutical drug, contact an experienced Charleston, WV attorney as soon as possible to discuss your legal options.