Can I Sue a Maryland Pharmacy for Side Effects Caused by the Wrong Prescription?

Yes, victims of prescription misfills in Maryland have the right to file a personal injury claim against the pharmacy; however, the plaintiff in a personal injury case involving a pharmacy error must be able to prove negligence on the part of the defendant, as well as showing they were injured as a direct result.

The initial step when proving negligence on the part of a pharmacist or drugstore is showing the court that the defendant owed the victim what is know as “a duty of care.” When is comes to legal cases involving pharmacy error, proving negligence entails showing the court that the defendant failed to act with the ordinary care and skill that a typical pharmacist from the same geographic area would exercise when filling a similar prescription for a patient of like age, gender and medical conditions, among other factors.

Typical examples of prescription errors and medication misfills may include:

• Failure to provide the correct medicine
• Filling the prescription with the correct meds, but the wrong dosage
• Giving a patient another person’s medication

The next step toward proving negligence in a pharmacy error case requires the victim to show the court that the defendant, by his or her actions, failed to meet that duty of care. Furthermore, the victim must prove that the defendant’s failure to meet the expected standard of care was, in fact, the direct cause of the victim’s injuries.

At Lebowitz & Mzhen, LLC, we understand that people place a great deal of trust in medical professionals. The same goes for the pharmacies that supply medications, which includes ensuring that a patient’s prescriptions are filled correctly each and every time. We know that medication errors and pharmacy misfills occur far too often in Maryland, and that the majority of those errors are simply a result of pharmacist negligence.

Sadly, pharmacy errors have been rising at a distressing rate all across the country. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at least one person dies every day due to a pharmacy error. Nationwide, pharmacies large and small fill approximately four billion prescriptions annually. The national pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens account for more than a quarter of all medications sold to patients, while retailers with in-store pharmacies, such as Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid, Sam’s Club, Costco and Target, along with hospital and online pharmacies, fill the rest.

Here in the Baltimore area, our personal injury experts have more than 20 years of litigation experience handling claims related to prescription errors and pharmacy misfills. If you or a family member has suffered a serious injury due to pharmacist negligence, contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation. We will work closely with medical experts to evaluate your claim and aggressively pursue the compensation you deserve under the laws of the State of Maryland.