Physicians are the gatekeepers for prescription medications. They validate that patients have an actual medical need and that a specific prescription is appropriate for the patient to take. Doctors need to be familiar with a drug and with a patient’s history to safely prescribe medications.
Medication errors frequently occur during the prescribing process. Physicians can make mistakes regarding the dosage or the type of drug that they recommend. They may fail to acknowledge potential drug interactions. They may even recommend a medication that is inappropriate and potentially dangerous for a patient.
If a physician fails to acknowledge known drug contraindications when prescribing the medication to a patient, the patient could suffer negative side effects. Depending on the circumstances, that patient may have grounds to allege that they experience medical malpractice.
What are contraindications?
The research process required to make drugs available for mass production and distribution may identify risk factors that make the administration of a medication dangerous. Contraindications are characteristics that make a specific medication inappropriate.
For example, there are many medications that are demonstrably unsafe for women to use while they are pregnant. There are also drugs that can be dangerous for people with certain genetic conditions or other underlying medical issues.
Physicians should review a patient’s medical history carefully to validate that a specific medication is likely to be safe and effective. If there are contraindications, they may need to explore alternative treatment options.
When are prescribing errors malpractice?
Ignoring well-known contraindications could easily constitute medical malpractice. Medical malpractice essentially consists of mistakes that other physicians with a similar educational background and the same information about a patient could avoid. Contraindications are usually well-known and publicized.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) includes contraindications in the literature for approved medications. Continuing education requirements also help ensure that doctors learn about new discoveries regarding popular drugs and new medications brought to the market. If another physician could have identified a contraindication and avoided making a significant prescribing error, then the patient who received the medication may have experienced medical malpractice.
Ignoring contraindications or being unaware of them is a form of malpractice that can lead to dangerous medication errors. Successful medical malpractice lawsuits can help people cover increased medical expenses and any other economic impacts of preventable medical mistakes.
