Pharmacy Distributes Incorrect Dosage of Medication

Incorrect Dosage

Recently, we successfully mediated a case against a pharmacy for distributing to our client, an elderly woman, the incorrect dosage strength of a prescribed medication. The client was given the incorrect medication over a period of several weeks and, as a result, experienced periods of severe respiratory distress. She was taken to a local hospital, evaluated, and treated on repeated occasions, however, the hospital never determined the real cause for her symptoms. On each occasion after the client was discharged from the hospital, she began taking the incorrect medication again, of course, unbeknownst to her.

Eventually, the medication error was discovered. The cause of the client’s respiratory symptoms was ultimately determined to be the excessive medication provided by the pharmacy.

Result for Our Client

During mediation, the defense held seemingly inconsistent positions; the elderly woman was rife with comorbidities, yet she had a good recovery after the incident. The inconsistent  positions taken by the defense led the mediator to question its attempt to mitigate the damages in the case.  Ultimately, the case was resolved during mediation. Our clients were very satisfied with the recovery obtained, which also included a review of the company’s policies, in an attempt to prevent this from happening to someone else.