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It is more common than not for a nursing home resident to have at least one prescription medication that they need to take on a regular schedule in order to manage a serious health concern. Accordingly, it is vital for nursing home staff members and administrators to ensure that their residents receive the right type and dosage of medicine at the proper times.
Any failure by a nursing home to provide a resident with the high-quality medical support they deserve may be grounds for a civil lawsuit, either by the impacted resident themselves or by a loved one taking legal action on that resident’s behalf. Either way, successfully suing over injuries caused by medication errors in Philadelphia nursing homes will be much easier if you first seek the help of a skilled nursing home neglect lawyer from Lowenthal & Abrams.
How Negligence Can Lead to Medication Mistakes in a Nursing Home
No two people have precisely the same medical needs or will respond in exactly the same way to a particular medication, so part of the duty of care that nursing home employees owe to all of their residents is ensuring that those residents receive the medicines prescribed to them by their doctors at the correct times and dosages. Unfortunately, medication errors are far from rare inside Philadelphia nursing homes. Employees may fail to ensure they have accurate information about a resident’s needs, mix up prescriptions, or simply forget to note that they already gave a resident their medication for the day.
Furthermore, nursing home administrators may negligently place someone unqualified in charge of distributing medication to residents or fail to properly monitor staff members who have access to those medications. Doctors employed by nursing homes may even prescribe the wrong medicine altogether to a resident whose chart they did not carefully check.
A qualified legal professional can provide vital help with determining exactly how a nursing home resident got too much, not enough, or the wrong type of medication. They can then take proactive legal action against everyone who played a role in that error occurring.
Filing Suit on a Family Member’s Behalf
In theory, Philadelphia nursing home residents who are of sound mind can file civil suit over prescription mistakes entirely on their own, seeking compensation for their own losses. In practice, though, many nursing home residents are already dealing with serious cognitive limitations that a medication error may worsen even more, which may make it impossible in a practical sense for that resident to effectively protect their own legal best interests.
Fortunately, close family members of nursing home residents can step in and act as their loved one’s legal representative in this kind of scenario. However, as a seasoned lawyer can further explain, there are numerous legal rules and restrictions for people who file suit on behalf of others. This is to ensure that they act solely in the best interests of the people they are representing, even if it conflicts with their own best interests.
Speak With a Philadelphia Attorney About Filing a Nursing Home Medication Error Lawsuit
From over-the-counter pain relievers to custom-tailored prescription drug regimens, nursing home staff must be absolutely sure that every medication they give to a resident will help them as much as possible with minimal risk of harmful side effects. Any failure by a nursing home to fulfill this duty of care may justify a civil lawsuit, if, that is, you know and can proactively enforce your rights under Pennsylvania state law.
The nursing home abuse attorneys at Lowenthal & Abrams have years of experience successfully handling cases involving medication errors in Philadelphia nursing homes. Call today to discuss your legal options.
