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As a Memphis, Tennessee medical malpractice lawyer with the ability for members of our team to also investigate claims in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Kentucky, we thought it beneficial to discuss misdiagnosis of medical care and how this can affect the patient.
Tennessee Medical Malpractice Lawsuit for Medication Error
About 1.5 million U.S. residents suffer from fatal and non-fatal injuries due to medication errors every year. According to the Critical Care Medicine journal, hospital medication errors are more common than expected and in two-third errors go unobserved by patients or families. Published in 2013, the report quoted researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who studied over 800,000 such cases reported in the last five years, to claim that neither patients nor their families were apprised of these mistakes in medication. Unbelievably, no action was initiated against the erring staff despite their faults. The study also found that the most number of hospital medication errors happened during the drug administration.
A medical malpractice lawsuit filed in a state court a few months ago highlighted how a 39-year-old man lost his life because of medication error. The patient was administered higher than prescribed dose of medication that resulted into hemorrhage and severe internal bleeding. He died within 12 hours. The family has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital holding it responsible for the medication error that resulted in wrongful death. We provide free case evaluations for similar instances.
What Constitutes A Medication Error
The following are various types of medication error apt for filing of Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuits.
- Wrong prescription
- Administration of wrong medication
- Omission of required medication
- Failure to prescribe or administer the required medication
- Incorrect regimen or dose prescription or administration
- Pharmacy failure to create the right drug composition
- Prescription or administration drugs with known side effects
The FDA has issued comprehensive guidelines and warnings apprising consumers of side effects linked to several medications. If your doctor has misled you over prescription drug side effects and recommended a drug that caused you to suffer from injuries, you are at liberty to sue him by filing a Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuit for a medication error.
Compensation Restrictions for Tennessee Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
A plaintiff can seek damages covering medical cost, physical injury, economic losses, emotional suffering, and punitive damages. According to Tennessee state law, the compensation awarded is subject to certain limitations, such as
- non-economic damages should not exceed $750,000
- award of punitive damages if there is clear and convincing evidence of intentional, reckless, malicious or fraudulent conduct
- economic damages of no limit, but must be proven with some specificity at trial (e.g. lost wages, life care plan or similar costs)
If you or a loved one in Tennessee, Arkansas or Kentucky believes you are the victim of medical malpractice and have sustained an injury to yourself or your child, infant, parent or loved one, please contact us today.