News tagged with 'Medication Errors'

Medical errors are costing Americans at least $17 billion a year, but is not the focus of health care reform. In fact, the Republican version makes it much tougher for those already injured to seek help.

21 prized polo horses from Venezuela died suddenly in Florida this past weekend, and no one knew the cause until it revealed today they were given a vitamin supplement, erroneously mixed by an Ocala, Florida pharmacy that likely caused their deaths.   

New incentives are encouraging more doctors to scrap pen and paper in favor of electronic prescriptions. E-Prescribing is a prescriber's ability to electronically send an accurate, error-free and understandable prescription directly to the pharmacy from the point-of-care.

An estimated six percent of U.S. doctors currently use “e-prescribing” although doing so may save millions, improve efficiency and reduce medication errors such as a pharmacy technician misreading a doctor’s messy handwriting or dispensing a different drug with a similar name.

Naming drugs is a very profitable business. If the right sound and image can be evoked in a name- the sky's the limit in sales. But consumers should be aware that the art and science of naming products such as "Frutopia" are being used to get you to feel good about your prescription drugs. 

The CEO of a Corpus Christi hospital is apologizing for a medication error that may have caused the death of an infant. Another is in critical condition. Meanwhile, caps on damages in Texas mean that many medical malpractice lawsuits will never be filed.