Misunderstandings.  Misinterpretations.  Mistakes.

If you’re at a hospital, those are three words you would rather not associate with where you’re being treated.  Unfortunately, medical mistakes cause one wrongful death every day and cause personal injuries to 1.3 million people every year, according to statistics from the Food and Drug Administration.

Our San Diego personal injury attorneys have been wondering: what is being done to prevent these medical mistakes from causing personal injury or wrongful death?

A non-profit organization known as the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, which is certified by the federal government to collect reports related to medical malpractice and other information about problems in quality.  The ISMP along with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists have launched a new National Alert Network for Serious Medication Errors.

The network debuted last month, and when a dangerous or potentially fatal error is reported to the ISMP, an email alert will be sent to 35,000 pharmacists, physicians and nurses.  Hopefully, spreading the word about errors will make doctors and pharmacists more cautious and could possibly prevent future mistakes.  Consumers can sign up for alerts as well to get customized alerts about meds they take and report problems they come across with their medications at the ISMP’s website.

A test run of the network distributed errors last fall about a reduction of the iron concentration in Mead Johnson’s Fer-In Sol oral infant iron drops.  The change was made in the second quarter of 2008, but ISMP President Michael Cohen said health care providers didn’t know about the move.  Because of it, doctors accidentally prescribed children with doses that didn’t give children enough iron.

Our personal injury lawyers in San Diego know that getting the wrong drug, the wrong concentration or the wrong dose can be a fatal error.  Programs like these can only help people who rely on getting the right medicines.

Please feel free to call us now at 1-800-655-6585 or you can click here for a free consultation with an experienced San Diego personal injury attorney.   We have a large bilingual staff that can assist you in either English or Spanish.  No fee if no recovery.

About Michael Pines

Michael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.