There are many things that can be done in a hospital setting to improve the health of the patients staying there. This is true in Pittsburgh and throughout the nation. Depending on the condition the patient has, medication may be a part of their treatment. When used correctly, this can make a huge difference. Conversely, should a medication error occur, it is possible that a patient can be greatly harmed.

There are several different medication errors that can cause such harm. One is when a patient receives the wrong dosage of the medication prescribed. Another is that a patient receives the wrong medication completely. This too can be devastating and in the worst cases lead to death.

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority looked into issues constituting medication mistakes for half a year in 2011. It found that there were a total of 813 instances of patients in hospitals, ambulatory medical centers and birthing centers in the state receiving the wrong medication. A total of 270 such facilities were investigated.

There are several reasons for this. First, nurses who did not confirm the identity of the person receiving the drug. Second, mistakes in the transcription of written information regarding medication included in the patient's medical record. Sometimes the issue could be traced back to labeling issues when the drugs were being dispensed. In other situations two medications were accidentally switched and given to the wrong person. Still another situation in which mistakes happened is when nurses accidentally grab the wrong medicine from areas where the drugs are stored.

Regardless of how a medical error occurs, it is important for those who are dealing with issues regarding such an error to be aware that they have legal rights. For some, that means that they will file a medical malpractice lawsuit against those responsible for the medication error.

Source: The Morning Call, "Hospitals have work to do on getting patients the correct medicine," Tim Darragh, April 18, 2013