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Related Links: Top Five Causes of Pharmacy Malpractice Claims |
We all learned about reading comprehension in school. While some students were better at it than others, it is a skill that you hope your pharmacist has. Being able to read something, process it, and remember it, is an essential skill to have in life—especially for pharmacists.
Reading and retaining prescription information is not only a skill you hope your pharmacist has, but it is vital in filling and dispensing the correct medication. Unfortunately, some people—including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians—aren’t good at reading comprehension. When a pharmacist has poor reading comprehension skills, he or she could fill the wrong medication or the incorrect dosage of drug.
For example, a doctor could have prescribed 5.0 mg pills, but a pharmacist read it and remembered it to be 50 mg pills. As a result, the pharmacist dispensed the wrong dosage. While this type of pharmacy error could have occurred because the pharmacist was rushing and just didn’t read the prescription closely, it could have also occurred because the pharmacist or pharmacy technician didn’t have good reading comprehension skills.
While it may be impossible to determine the level of reading comprehension a pharmacist has, any time a customer is given the wrong dosages or incorrect medication could be due to a pharmacist’s poor reading comprehension. When a pharmacist hands a patient medication that is different from the one the doctor prescribed, it is not only an example of poor reading comprehension, but an example of pharmacy negligence.
If a pharmacist in the Houston area dispensed the wrong medicine or dose and it caused you or your loved one harm, it could be considered a potential medical malpractice case. Because pharmacists have a duty to make sure they hand you the correct medication that you were prescribed, you should learn about your rights by requesting a free copy of our book, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for Injuries Caused by Medication Errors.