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Nursing Home Patients Plagued by Medication Errors
Posted on Sep 15, 2008
Each month 10% of nursing home patients are injured by medication errors according to a study by the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. According to the author of the study, nursing homes are at least 10 years behind hospitals in reducing medication errors. The most common and the most serious problems come from the blood thinner warfarin (Coumadin) and anti-psychotic medications. Improperly medicated patients suffer injuries ranging from confusion to serious bleeding to death.
According to Dr. Jerry Gurwitz, M.D., the lead author of the study, "This seems to be a major safety issue for some of our most vulnerable patients."
We could not agree more with Dr. Gurwitz's comment. In our experience, medication errors are often fatal. We have represented patients in Virginia who have died from overdoses of Coumadin and Methotrexate. These deaths were needless and preventable.
It is the responsibility of the doctor to prescribe medications appropriately and for the nurses to administer the medications as prescribed. Yet when a doctor prescribes a dangerous medicine like Coumadin, the doctor must monitor the patient and order critical laboratory tests to ensure that the patient is receiving a proper dose. The nurses must ensure that the doctors orders are properly carried out. If either the nurses or the doctors neglect their responsibilities the patient is at risk for serious injuries or death.
The statistic of 10% of nursing home patients per month suffering from medication errors is astonishing. At that rate most long term nursing home patients will suffer injuries from a medication error.
There are host of technologies and steps nursing homes can take to prevent medication errors. The most important and simplest step is to provide sufficient nurses to care for patients. Under-staffing leads to overworked nurses who are more likely to make mistakes. Unfortunately most nursing homes are for-profit businesses and the easiest way to boost profits is to cut staffing, i.e. putting profits over patients.
Our philosophy is that holding nursing homes accountable for injuring patients makes it expensive for nursing homes to provide bad care. In other words, while it may cost money to hire sufficient nurses to care for patients, ultimate it is cheaper for the nursing home to provide good care and than to be sued for malpractice.
Because medication errors are so common in nursing homes, we have devoted a portion of our website to nursing home medication errors. Click here to learn more.
If you or a loved one is a victim of a medication error, please call us at (804) 288-1661 or click here to contact us.
Joshua Silverman
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