Advice On How To Make A Medication Error Claim
You may be eligible to make a medication error claim for compensation if the incorrect prescription caused you harm.
£70 million in compensation
Advice On How To Make A Medication Error Claim.
You may be eligible to make a medication error claim for compensation if the incorrect prescription caused you harm.
Learn How To Make A Medication Error Claim
A prescription error, such as a healthcare professional giving you the incorrect medication, could cause you to suffer a range of complications unnecessarily. In this guide, we examine how to make a medication error claim.
We’ll look at examples of prescription errors. This is followed by a discussion of the medical negligence claims criteria that must be met in order to have a good case for seeking compensation. Additionally, we look at how medical negligence compensation could be awarded for a successful claim.
Lastly, this guide concludes with an explanation of how a solicitor providing their services on a No Win No Fee basis can help you with a prescription error claim.
Contact Us
If you have suffered medical negligence and would like to know what to do next, one of our advisors can help. They can help assess your compensation claim and if it is valid, you could be connected to one of our experienced medical negligence solicitors.
To talk to our medical negligence team:
- Call 0151 375 9916
- Fill out our contact us form to request a call back.
- Ask about prescription error compensation claims in our live chat.
What Is A Medication Error Claim?
All healthcare professionals are legally obligated to provide a service of skill and care that reaches a minimum standard. This is their duty of care. It applies to any healthcare professional involved in your treatment, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Medication errors can occur when a medical professional fails to provide you with the minimum expected standard of care.
However, in order to have reasonable grounds to make a medication error claim, you will need to satisfy the medical negligence eligibility criteria. This means that you will need to present evidence that proves:
- You were owed a duty of care by a medical professional, such as the pharmacist who filled your prescription.
- They breached this duty. For example, by giving you another patient’s prescription due to a dispensing or labelling error.
- You suffered avoidable harm as a result of this breach. For example, you experienced an allergic reaction to another patient’s prescription.
In the sections below, we look at a few ways mediation errors could occur.
Prescription Errors
A prescription error could occur at any point during treatment. Examples include:
- Being given the wrong dosage. This could cause an overdose requiring hospitalisation or you could be given not enough medication resulting in a worsening of your symptoms and possible tolerance to lower doses.
- Failure to consider your symptoms which results in the wrong medicine.
- A doctor failing to take your allergies into account when prescribing medication. This results in you taking medicine that contains an ingredient that you are known to be allergic to.
Dispensing Errors
A dispensing error occurs at the point of delivery. For example, at the pharmacy, or if you are being treated in the hospital, on the ward. Examples include:
- The nurse giving you another patient’s medication while you are both in hospital.
- Incorrect administration route. For example, if the medication is meant to be dispensed intravenously but is given orally.
- A pharmacist failing to consider your other prescriptions and dispensing one that will have a negative interaction with other tablets you take.
To discuss your specific case, you can contact our advisors. Additionally, they can answer any questions you have about the claims process.
How Do I Make A Medication Error Claim?
As with any medical negligence claim, your medication error claim will need supporting evidence. This needs to show liability for the prescription error and the harm you suffered as a result. Examples of items you could collect include:
- A copy of your medical records. These will show your initial condition as well as what effect the medication error had on your health. Additionally, as part of the claims process, you may be invited to attend an independent medical exam. This can provide legal professionals with a more accurate picture of the effect the medical negligence had on you.
- A copy of the prescription and any leftover medication.
- The packaging the medication came in. For example, if you were given out of date medication, the packaging will show this.
- Correspondence between yourself and the healthcare provider responsible for the medication. For example, if you emailed a complaint about the medication, you could submit this.
Furthermore, you may like to seek legal advice from a specialist medical negligence solicitor. A solicitor with experience of medical negligence claims can advise on what evidence you could gather to help support your case. If you contact one of the advisors from our team, they can discuss your your prescription error claim and if it seems eligible, they can connect you with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
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How Much Compensation For Medication Errors?
If you make a successful medication error claim, your settlement may consist of two parts, known as heads of loss. These are general and special damages.
Under the first head or general damages, you’ll be compensated for the physical pain and mental suffering the prescription error caused. To help value this part of a prescription error compensation claim, those responsible for doing so may refer to the results of an independent medical exam in conjunction with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
The JCG provides a list of guideline compensation amounts for various illnesses and injuries. We’ve provided a few figures from this document that could be relevant to a medication error in the table below. Additionally, we provide a figure in the top row that shows how you could be awarded compensation for multiple illnesses and related expenses. This figure was not taken from the JCG.
Compensation Table
| Harm Type | Severity | Notes | Compensation Guideline Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Illnesses and Injuries and Special Damages | Very Severe | Settlements could compensate for various injuries and illnesses plus related financial costs, such as lost wages and treatment. | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Brain Damage | Very Severe | Injuries such as quadriplegic cerebral palsy that cause severe cognitive and physical disabilities. | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Less Severe | The patient has made a good recovery but may still have some persisting problems such as poor memory. | £18,700 to £52,550 | |
| Kidney Damage | Serious | Serious and permanent damage has occurred to both kidneys, or both have been lost. | £206,730 to £256,780 |
| Loss | One kidney is lost without any damage to the other. | £37,550 to £54,760 | |
| Epilepsy | Established Petit Mal | The award considers whether the attacks are controlled by medication and what effect this medication has on the patient’s life. | £66,920 to £160,360 |
| Bowels | Severe | Function impairments often necessitate a temporary colostomy. | £54,420 to £85,100 |
| Non-Traumatic Damage to the Digestive System | Severe (i) | Symptoms include serious acute pain, vomiting and diarrhoea that require hospitalisation. Continuing incontinence, haemorrhoids and irritable bowel syndrome have a significant impact on life enjoyment. | £46,900 to £64,070 |
| Asthma | Chronic Asthma | Breathing difficulties require an inhaler from time to time with employment restrictions and an uncertain prognosis. | £32,090 to £52,490 |
| Skin Conditions | Lasting | Cracking and soreness to both hands impacts employment and domestic capability, possibly with a psychological effect. | £16,770 to £23,430 |
Special Damages
Additionally, you may be awarded a second head of loss, known as special damages. This is to reimburse you for any financial hardships that have been caused by medical negligence. Examples of items you could claim for include:
- Loss of earnings.
- Medical treatments, prescriptions and rehabilitation.
- Nursing care.
As part of the claims process, you may need to submit evidence of your costs. If you have any questions about how a medication error compensation claim could be valued, please speak with one of our advisors.
What Is The Time Limit For Medical Negligence Claims?
If you decide to make a medication error claim, it is vital that you start the process within the time limit set out in the Limitation Act 1980. For medical negligence claims this is generally three years from:
- The day of the prescription error.
- The date of knowledge. This is the day you realised, or should have realised, that the medication error was caused by the actions or inactions of a medical professional.
However, there are some exceptions to this, which we look at in the next section.
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Can I Claim On Another Person's Behalf For Being Prescribed Incorrect Medication?
In some cases, the harmed party is unable to launch their own medication error claim. This suspends the time limit. However, a court-appointed litigation friend may be able to launch a claim on their behalf at any time during the suspension period. Parties who cannot manage their own claim include:
- Children below the age of 18. The time limit is paused until their 18th birthday, giving them three years from that date to start the medical negligence claims process if a litigation friend hasn’t done so already.
- Those without the mental capacity to manage their own case. In these cases, a suspension is in place for as long as the party is without this capacity. However, if they regain it and a claim was not made for them, they will have three years from the date it was deemed that their mental capacity was recovered.
Contact us to see if you are within the time limit to launch a claim.
Make A No Win No Fee Prescription Error Claim
If you would like to make a medication error claim, you may like to do so with the help of a solicitor. An experienced medical negligence solicitor can:
- Ensure that your claim is accurately valued.
- Meet court-set deadlines and handle important documents.
- Help you collect evidence.
- Explain legal jargon to you.
However, a solicitor could be costly. Instead of paying upfront and ongoing solicitors fees, you could instruct a No Win No Fee solicitor to work on your case. They may provide their services under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under such an agreement, you:
- Won’t pay upfront or ongoing fees.
- Don’t have to pay for your solicitor’s work on your prescription error claim if it fails.
- Only have a small success fee taken from the compensation awarded to you if your case succeeds. This is a percentage limited by the law.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about prescription error compensation claims, speak to an advisor from our team. They can check your claim and if it seems valid. Additionally, you could be connected to one of our experienced medical negligence solicitors. To discuss prescription error claims:
- Call 0151 375 9916
- Request a callback by filling in our contact us form.
- Ask about prescription error compensation in our live chat.
Learn About Claiming Compensation
Additional guides from our site that you might find helpful:
- Guidance on making a medical negligence claim for compensation.
- Advice on making a fatal injury claim and who can seek compensation on behalf of the deceased.
- Information about personal injury compensation claims.
Further resources that could be useful:
- Government guidance on claiming Statutory Sick Pay if you need time off to recover.
- Details about the standards that pharmacy professionals are expected to follow from the General Pharmaceutical Council.
- Information about good medical practice for doctors from the General Medical Council.
If you have any more questions about making a medication error claim, or if you would like to get one started today, please speak to a team member.
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