The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 82% of Americans take prescription medications and that almost 30% take five or more prescription medications. With all those prescription drugs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that 1.3 million Americans are injured every year from errors in their prescription or errors in the medication.
“Pharmacists and drug companies commit pharmaceutical malpractice when they fail to provide proper instructions for taking the medication, mislabel the medications, or fail to adequately and honestly test the drug before producing and selling the drugs for public use,” according to St. Louis Attorney Daniel P. Finney, Jr. “With an ever aging population in need or more and more drugs, we need to be aware of the serious consequences to mistakes.”
Placing a drug on the market or improperly filling a prescription that injures a consumer can be pharmaceutical malpractice. It is important to hold companies and pharmacists accountable. It can also happen in nursing homes, where many assistants oversee the care of residents and communication breakdown can be deadly.
“Just think about it: how many of us stop at our local pharmacy every week to pick up our prescribed drugs? Many of us are taking these for the first time and have no idea what the pills should look like. We place an awful lot of trust in our pharmacists so it is important that you have someone you can trust,” Finney added.
Daniel P. Finney Jr., has been in practice for over 30 years and is the founding member of Finney Law Office, LLC. The firm specializes in catastrophic injuries resulting from preventable negligence, including pharmacy malpractice. They are based in St. Louis, Missouri.