MEDICATION MISTAKES & NEGLIGENCE IN NURSING HOMES

According to the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, “preventable medication errors result in more than 7,000 deaths each year in hospitals and tens of thousands more in outpatient facilities.” Medical oversight can result in giving the patient wrong medication, a combination of medications, or the wrong dosage. Medical inconsistencies can also be the result of misread medical script, the wrong prescription all together, allergic reactions to the medication they were prescribed, or incorrect charting of the medication by the staff.

When you pay a nursing home for the care of your loved one, you expect a high level of care. Nursing home facilities are expected to follow state and federal guidelines. When an elderly resident of a nursing home or a dependent adult receives medical care that falls below the accepted standard of care and suffers serious injuries and fatalities, it is considered negligence.

The following are examples of medical negligence at nursing homes: