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Types of Errors

Dangerous and Defective Drugs If you put your trust in a pharmaceutical company and were hurt by their product, you deserve compensation for your suffering.
Wrong Medication Did you receive the wrong medication or incorrect prescription from a pharmacy? If you have suffered because of a medication error please call us for a free case review.
Wrong Dosage Common forms of medication error: incorrect dosage error. Order our free book to learn how to protect yourself and your family from wrong dosage errors.
Other Errors Order our free book, "How to Make Pharmacies Pay for your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors, to learn your rights in prescription error cases.
Kids Rx Errors Order a free copy of The Top 10 Tips to Protect Your Children Against Pharmacy Errors. If you have suffered a prescription error contact our firm today.
Pharmacy Malpractice If you have suffered an injury because a pharmacy dispensed the wrong medication or made an error with your prescription, you are able to file a claim for negligence or malpractice and receive the compensation you deserve.
Walgreens Pharmacy Error Claims There have been numerous claims brought against Walgreens for pharmacy errors or prescription errors. Order our free book to learn how to take action.
CVS Pharmacy Error Claims If you've been injured because of a CVS Pharmacy prescription error, call us for help with your lawsuit at 888-526-7616.
State Pharmacy Boards If you have been severely injured because of a medication error, contact board-certified attorneys immediately to investigate your case free of charge.
Drug & Pharmacy Error Prevention Filing a pharmacy error lawsuit is the only way to make pharmacies take accountability for mistakes. Call our board certified attorneys for a free case review.
State Pharmacy Laws State laws on pharmacy malpractice. Learn the pharmacy error Statute of Limitation laws that apply to your state. Call 877-342-2020 for a free consultation.

What Could a Robot at the Neighborhood Pharmacy Mean to Your Health and Safety?

Galvin B. Kennedy
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Partner at Kennedy Hodges LLP practicing personal injury, pharmacy error, and overtime law

As technology advances, the medical field and the public has benefited. However, there are some technological advancement verdicts are still out on. For example, pharmacy robots are seen by many people as a good advancement. However, some view the automated dispensing machines in a different light.

While more and more large pharmacy chains are using pharmacy robots to fill drugs faster and safer, News 4 I-Team investigated how these machines work and how easily it is for a robot to multiply one mistake into dozens. When a pharmacist fills a prescription, he or she may make a pharmacy error with a patient’s drug by providing him or her with the wrong medication or wrong dosage of drug. However, if a pharmacy robot fills the wrong medication, chances are many customers will receive the wrong drugs and suffer the consequences.

How Medication Mistakes Are Multiplied by Robots

Robots are filled with medications by humans. So, if a pharmacy technician or pharmacist puts the wrong pills into the machine, the machine will dispense what’s in there without catching that error. The pills will then be placed in a bottle, and if a pharmacist doesn’t catch the mistake, many customers could receive the wrong medication as a result of the machine being filled with the wrong drugs.

“A human being has to fill the machine with various kinds of medicine and they could make a mistake. And if they make a mistake, the machine dispenses what it’s told to do,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe at the medical watchdog Public Citizen. Although she also stated there have been several studies that indicate pharmacy robots are cutting down medication errors.

Unfortunately, there is still a chance for multiple mistakes to occur through pharmacy robots because, after all, it is a human putting the pills into the robot. Unfortunately, when pharmacies use robots, they expect that pharmacists can fill more prescriptions so they up the number of prescriptions pharmacists are expected to fill—forcing them to rush. This is exactly what happened at a pharmacy that Pharmacist Joe Zorek worked at.

When pharmacists have to rush, there is greater chance for making a mistake. Zorek said that a mistake was made at his store when an employee put 250 milligrams of an antibiotic into a cell that already had 500 milligram pills. While some pharmacy error mistakes involve dosing errors, others involve mixing up the medications—ultimately giving customers the wrong meds.

We share this information not to scare you away from pharmacies that use robots, but to remind you to always check your medication before taking it and to speak up if something looks different. If you have experienced a medication mistake, please don't hestitate to contact our firm to get help.

 

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