Is your loved one a nursing home resident? Here’s what you should know about medication errors….

The elderly are prone to various types of medical conditions and often must be administered several medications at a time.

This can lead to the risk of taking the wrong medication especially if they are in a nursing home. Wrong medication can cause serious injuries and side effects, and in many cases organ failure or death. Therefore, if your loved one is a resident of such a facility it is important to be aware these issues.

Nursing Home is Responsible

Nursing home abuse lawyers point out that wrong medication is one of the common cases they unfortunately have to handle, which is very often due to negligence by nursing staff. It is crucial for caregivers and physicians to make every effort to prevent the ingestion of wrong medications. In addition, it is the nursing staff’s responsibility to monitor medications given and to look for any unusual side effects to prevent an adverse event.

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Now you may have seen this in the show House with Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie). This happened a couple of times in that show.

Now this could happen for innocent reasons such as the patient lied, the patient could not speak and the doctors had to make an educated guess, the symptoms pointed towards a certain issue but then later the doctor or medical team realized the cause is something else and therefore a different type of treatment needed to be administered.

Poorly Staffed Homes

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, substandard care has been determined in more than one in five nursing home residents. As many as 37% of the errors are medication related. Nursing home abuse attorneys explain that this if often due to understaffing and where the staff is under pressure to administer different medications to multiple residents all throughout the day.

Physician Error

Another major cause for wrong medication is physician error. Improper diagnosis can result in the wrong medicines being prescribed, which could lead to a case for medical malpractice. In addition, nursing staff could be confused when physicians prescribe medications with similar names.

Intentional Administration of Drugs

Nursing home abuse lawyers also reiterate that medications are sometimes administered wrongly on purpose. This is true in cases where staff may attempt to wrongfully sedate a patient so that they have fewer responsibilities as compared to when the resident is awake. There are also instances of staff trying to illegally steal medication and administer a substitute.

Lack of Medication or over-medication can be as Dangerous

While wrong medication is a major concern there are the dangers of residents being under-medicated or over-medicated. This can result in a wide range of side effects especially in the case of painkillers, sedatives, blood thinners, antihistamines, and anti-psychotic drugs that are commonly given to the elderly.

Everyone who has a loved one in a nursing facility must remember that any over the counter drugs can cause adverse effects when combined with prescription drugs. Prior to being given any OTC products, it is important to check with the concerned physician. 

There are several ways in which medication can lead to dangerous situations when it comes to the elderly. Therefore, it is paramount to remain alert and monitor your loved one frequently. Most importantly, you could be entitled to compensation if you or your loved one was provided wrong medication at a nursing facility. Just make sure to consult an astonishing nursing home abuse lawyer as soon as possible.

No one is exempt from not needing legal assistance in their lives. House needed a legal professional more than once in his life. This amazing website Nursing-Home-Abuse.USAttorneys did not exist when House was practicing medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital but it does now. Many things in this world have become worse but the ability to find coveted legal help to those that need it has become much simpler.