Prescription Error Compensation Claims

Our Medical Negligence Lawyers offer a free consultation for victims of clinical negligence and medical accidents. Call us on 08000 488 777 or tell us what happened so we can provide you with expert legal advice at no cost to you.

You should be able to count on your General Practitioner to give you an accurate and effective prescription. Getting a prescription is one important step to returning to full health or managing a condition, and one mistake in prescribing medicine can disrupt the entire healing process. Most doctors in the UK can be counted on to provide the correct medication, but mistakes do happen and some of those mistakes can cause serious injury, illness, or even death in the worst of cases. These errors can be caused by doctors failing to take into account important vital signs, inaccurately diagnosing patients or even accidentally providing the wrong medicine altogether.

Sometimes, it may not even be the doctor’s fault. Pharmacists are responsible for distributing the medicines to the doctors, and can also make mistakes. One of the most common pharmacy errors is preparing the wrong dosage for the patient. Too much of a medicine can cause horrible side effects and even make a condition worse, where too little can fail to treat the condition at all. This, among other reasons, could be grounds for a claim for compensation.

Contraindications

All medicines, no matter who prescribed them, should be checked for compatibility with the patient’s medical history to ensure that no contraindications exist. Contraindications are health or health-related conditions that can limit the types of medicine prescribed. For example, a doctor should not prescribe iron tablets to somebody who may be suffering from hemochromatosis an illness characterised by having too much iron in the body. Prescribing iron tablets would only make the condition worse.

Pharmacists are required to request certain information, including medical history, from the patient or the doctor to ensure that they are not accidentally providing a medicine that would conflict with another condition or cause any harm outside of the usual side effects. If the pharmacist fails to do this, the pharmacist may be deemed negligent and there may be enough evidence to give rise to a claim for compensation.

Incompatibility and Other Reactions

Another issue that may lead to a claim is incompatibility. Many medicines do not work well with others, and some can have incredibly unfavourable reactions. Pharmacists should know which medicines can and cannot be mixed, so providing a patient with two prescriptions that contradict each other or are incompatible and can cause harm may constitute negligence, according to UK law. In the same category, patients with certain allergies should not be prescribed some medications. Once again, the general practitioner should prescribe the correct medication, but the pharmacist is also responsible for looking over the prescription and seeing if it is correct or not. The pharmacy is responsible for checking that the medicine prescribed by the doctor will not exacerbate the patient’s allergies. If there is evidence of error, there may be basis for a claim.

Making a Claim for Compensation

It is vital to bring prescription-related errors to the attention of the doctor, pharmacy, or hospital. If serious injury or an illness was caused by a pharmacy error, a claim for compensation may be brought at the patient’s wishes. This claim would be handled the same as a clinical negligence claim. Our Medical Negligence Lawyers are experts at medical solicitation and aim to provide the best service possible in order to ensure that you get the maximum compensation.

Time Limits

If you or a loved one has suffered from prescription error you should contact us as soon as you can.

There are time limits which must be followed.

Adults must file a claim for compensation within three years from the date of the incident or three years from the date of acknowledgement that the injury or illness is a result of medical negligence.
Children have until their 21st birthday in which a claim must be filed. This is regardless of when the accident took place.
Adults and children without mental capacity have no time limit in which they can file a claim. This rule is very specific so if you believe this is relative in your case you should contact or Medical Negligence Lawyers to make sure this rule applies to you.

If a claim is filled too late you may lose the right to compensation which is rightfully yours.

If you or a loved one has suffered from a prescription error contact us today and receive a free no obligation consultation with one of our Medical Negligence Lawyers. You can get in touch by filling in our online claim form, requesting a call back or by calling us on the number above.