Peoria Nursing Home Medication Error Attorneys

Lawyers Fighting for Nursing Home Medication Error Victims

Medication errors can have serious and life-threatening consequences for nursing home residents. Many nursing home patients must take multiple types of medication on a regular basis to address various health issues and ensure that they can maintain a good quality of life. When nursing home staff members fail to ensure that residents are taking medications as required, this can have devastating effects on elderly patients and their families. In some cases, medication errors may even lead to wrongful death. When nursing home neglect is responsible for medication errors that cause harm to residents, families will want to determine how these errors happened and how they should respond.

The compassionate team at Nursing Home Injury Center understands the devastating impact that medication errors and other forms of nursing home negligence can have on families. We work to ensure that these errors are addressed correctly and that a family will be able to move forward from the difficulties they have experienced. By investigating the circumstances surrounding a nursing home injury to determine why errors occurred, we can help ensure that concerns related to neglect will be addressed properly so that patients can be protected against harm in the future. We can also make sure a negligent nursing home is held responsible for allowing a family’s loved one to suffer harm.

Causes of Medication Errors in Nursing Homes

Multiple types of errors related to medications can occur in nursing homes. In some cases, patients may be given the wrong medications, which could lead to dangerous side effects or allergic reactions. In others, medications may be administered at improper doses, or they may not be given to patients at all, leading to health conditions going untreated. Residents may also suffer harm due to mistakes made when administering medications, such as bruising or other injuries around injection sites or choking on pills due to lack of supervision.

Medication errors may occur because of issues such as:

• Lack of training – Nursing home staff members must be properly trained on how to administer medications to patients. They should be able to review patient records to identify patient needs and potential risks, and they should follow the correct procedures to ensure that the right medications are administered at the right times. If staff members have not received the necessary training, or if they are not properly qualified to care for elderly or disabled patients, they may make mistakes that could threaten the life and health of nursing home residents.
• Understaffing – Many nursing homes struggle to maintain enough people on staff to provide the care and treatment that residents need and deserve. If a facility does not have enough people working at certain times, fewer staff members will be available to address the needs of more patients. When a small number of people are tasked with administering medications to many nursing home residents within a short period of time, they may need to rush to keep up with their duties, and they may become careless or fail to follow the correct procedures. Understaffing may also require staff members to work longer shifts, and as they become fatigued, they will be more likely to make mistakes.
• Record-keeping errors and lack of organization – If a nursing home does not maintain proper records, or if staff members cannot easily look up information about patients, dangerous medication errors can occur. Clerical errors may result in patient records being switched or medication information being entered incorrectly. This may result in the wrong medications being administered to the wrong patients. Poor organization may affect staff members’ ability to review information about patients’ needs, and they may be unaware of specific issues that could affect patients when medications are being administered.

Get Help With Injuries Caused by Nursing Home Medication Errors

If your loved one has been injured because of medication errors at a nursing home, you will want to determine what you can do to protect their health and safety. At Nursing Home Injury Center, we can provide guidance about the resources that are available to you, and we can assist you in holding a negligent nursing home responsible for the harm done to your family. To get the help you need in these situations, contact us and schedule a free consultation by calling 309-524-6900.