Medication Errors

As consumers in the American healthcare system, we trust our medical providers to keep us from harm. We also – perhaps less consciously – depend on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that the drugs we receive are safe. When you pick up a...

Doctors use anesthesia to help make your operation — and recovery — as painless as possible. But a mistake in administering anesthesia can result in added pain and recovery time for you.Here are three common anesthesia errors that can cause problems for...

Last November, Roche Diagnostics recalled over a million packages of test strips used with the CoaguCheck Test Meter, which measures the level of the blood thinner warfarin. The strips were determined to be faulty, which could result in inaccurate readings. Warfarin...

In a world so focused on safety, wrongful death seems like a term that should be seen less and less. Precautions are taken with cars and electronics to make them as safe as possible. But some dangers aren't being addressed to the same degree.Medications are one such...

Opioid addiction continues to plague our communities, damaging families and reportedly taking the lives of more than 100 Americans every day. The persistent overprescription of opioids has led to countless victims that suffer unnecessary and avoidable...

Imagine your mother suffered from chronic migraines. She tried everything to treat them—over-the-counter medication, acupuncture, physical therapy—but nothing seemed to work. Nearly every day of her life was filled with incapacitating pain. Finally she...

Last week, we examined the unexpected and potentially devastating side effects of Ambien--the world's number one sleep aid. We talked about cases of well-intentioned patients who took the medication as prescribed before bed into order to help them fall asleep. They...

Since its release into the market over a decade ago, Ambien has become a ubiquitous name in the medical industry. It has been shown to induce sleep in about 20 minutes, and people all over the world have sworn by its efficacy. It has quickly become the number one...

Older readers will remember the commercial tagline "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible." Monsanto put it out there back in the 1970s. These days, with all the attention on the environment and the effects of human activity upon it, many might be...

Medication errors are an important type of preventable medical error that need to be more thoroughly and systematically addressed in the health care industry. Often, medication errors do not have serious long-term consequences for those who experience them, but in...