Prescription medication abuse can occur when a patient is taking a combination of drugs that have been prescribed by a number of different physicians. Unfortunately, it is often not discovered until the patient becomes severely ill or they have overdosed and they need to be taken to the hospital. The following are some helpful tips on prescription medical malpractice and what you can do to protect yourself.
Overmedication
Polypharmacy is known among the medical community as the overuse of pharmaceutical medication in patients. It has actually reached epidemic proportions in patients over 65 across the United States today. It can also affect younger patients that are suffering from a number of health complications as well.
How Do Patients Become Overmedicated?
Today’s culture has been to prescribe a pill for every ailment, instead of streamlining things and getting to the actual root of the patients problem. When a patient visits a physician and are complaining about feeling ill, the doctor will often give them medication to treat that specific illness. The patient trusts the medical advice and then takes the prescribed medication. They may be taking five different drugs when only one or two may actually be needed. Whether you ask a Syracuse malpractice lawyer or a San Diego criminal attorney, this is negligence on the physician’s part, and can cause the patient to suffer severe complications such as brain injuries, respiratory failure and even death. Instead of feeling better, their condition may worsen and cause horrible side effects.
Symptoms
Research has indicated that there are over 1.5 million drug overdoses every year throughout the U.S. and of those, thousands have proven deadly. Over one third of these cases have been among senior citizens. Some of the symptoms to look for include fatigue, abdominal discomfort, memory lapse and swelling. Physicians can often misinterpret the symptoms and prescribe numerous medications in addition to the ones that they were previously taking. The actual solution to the problem would be to perform a simple diagnosis and reduce the unnecessary medications causing the complications.
Medical Malpractice
The leading cause of medical malpractice is the improper patient treatment by a physician. Some of the circumstances related to medical malpractice include wrong limb amputation, incorrect organ operation, excessive anesthesia, overprescribed medication and physician and hospital staff neglect. If any of these circumstances results in a fatality, the family members can seek retribution on the patient’s behalf. Since you may have only a specific amount of time in which to file a claim for the prescription negligence, you should speak to a medical malpractice attorney immediately regarding your case.
Many patients need to take a number of medications for their various health related issues. However, a physician should take the time and effort in monitoring a patient, so they can avoid becoming overmedicated. A patient can also take an active role in their prescription use by seeking an alternative opinion if they feel that the physician is not taking the necessary precautions in their treatment plan.
Managing the prescriptions for her parent gives Nadine Swayne, a freelance writer, the understanding to contribute this article. Bottar Leone PLLC is a Syracuse malpractice lawyer group that can help a patient recover compensation for: medical bills caused by being overmedicated, excessive prescription bills, lost income, pain and suffering and any future expenses caused by the condition.
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