MEDICATION ERRORS IN STATE OF FLORIDA HOSPITALS

Medication Errors in State of Florida Hospitals

Medication Errors in State of Florida Hospitals

Introduction

Pharmacy and medication malpractice cause injury to countless people in Florida every year. A medication or pharmacy error can have grave and debilitating side effects that often leave victims incapacitated, injured, or even more ill then they were before. Fortunately, the law affords victims of medication errors the right to seek damages if they can prove the doctor, pharmacist, or hospital's negligence led to the error that consequently caused their injuries. When a doctor or pharmacists' negligent actions lead to a medication error or pharmacy error that causes injury, they will be held liable for damages for the victim's pain and suffering, medical expenses, emotional distress, decreased quality of life, lost earning capacity, and current and future lost wages.

Summary and Analysis

In November 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) revealed a hidden epidemic in the United States: medical errors, which result in injury to 1 in every 25 hospital patients and an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 deaths each year. Even the lower estimate makes medical errors more deadly than breast cancer (42,297), motor vehicle accidents (43,458) or AIDS (16,516). According to the IOM report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, medical errors cost the economy from $17 to $29 billion each year.

Research funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has shown that medical errors result most frequently from systems errors-organization of health care delivery and how resources are provided in the delivery system. Only rarely are medical errors the result of carelessness or misconduct of a single individual.

As John M. Eisenberg, MD, Director of AHRQ pointed out:

"Mistakes happen in hospitals, they happen in outpatient clinics, they happen in nursing homes and home care, and they happen in ...