Most nursing home residents receive at least one medication while receive multiple medications. When someone becomes a resident at a nursing home, the nursing home promises to provide them with quality care that is specific to their individual needs including medications prescribed just for them. Unless a resident is able to dispense his own medication, the nursing home becomes responsible for properly dispensing medications at the right time and in the right dosage. When the nursing home fails to give medications as ordered, residents can suffer serious injuries, including death.
Properly dispensing medication requires some knowledge about medications and the individual residents. Too often, because of the strict budgets imposed on nursing homes by parent corporations, the individuals who actually administer medication to the residents often lack sufficient training, do not know the specific care plans of the individual residents are lack appropriate supervision. When medication is administered by people who lack knowledge of the resident’s needs, lack proper training and do not have sufficient supervision, the risk of potentially deadly medication errors increases. Regrettably, it is not uncommon for the state to issue citations to a nursing home for multiple medication errors. A medication error can range from the resident not receiving his medication in a timely manner to receiving too much or too little medication, to receiving medication prescribed for a different resident. Any one of those errors can result in serious injuries or even death.
How you can help prevent medication errors
It is a sad but true commentary on the nursing home industry that you cannot trust the nursing home to give your loved one the right medication at the right time. To help your loved one get the correct medication at the correct time, it is important that you know as much about your family member’s medications as possible. Some families keep a written chart of prescribed medications so they can compare them to the medications actually given. Other families have even gone so far to keep pictures of each medication close by to compare with medications their loved one is given in the nursing home. The key to helping your loved one from becoming a victim of a medication error is to be vigilant in knowing what medications are prescribed, why they are prescribed, and insuring that your family member receives only those medications in the proper doses.
We can help if your family member has been injured by a medication error at a nursing home
Our attorneys have been successful in resolving cases favorable to our clients where nursing homes have made errors in giving medication to residents. If a family member or loved one has been suffered injuries or death as a result of a medication error at a Maryland nursing home, contact Nursing Home Justice Associates at 1-410-825-ABUSE (2287) to learn more about your legal rights.
Nursing Home Justice…..It’s What We Do.
Other Injuries Suffered By Nursing Home Residents:
Bed Sores, Pressure Sores, Decubitus Ulcer
Burns
Choking
Clogged Breathing Tubes
Falls
Malnutrition & Dehydration
Medication Errors
Physical Abuse
Restraints & Bedrails
Sepsis/Infection
Sexual Abuse
Wandering & Elopement