Children Drug Errors
New Study Uncovers Alarming Drug
Errors Among Hospitalized Kids
Medical malpractice errors are responsible for 98,000
wrongful deaths each year. Among those who are injured or die in
hospitals are children who receive negligent care. According to new
research, approximately one of every 15 children in U.S. hospitals
suffers from some type of drug error – from medicine mix-ups to
accidental overdoses and negative drug reactions.
The MEDLAW Legal Team of Janet,
Jenner & Suggs, LLC is a nationally recognized law firm dedicated to
representing victims of medical malpractice and drug errors. If your or
a love one has been the victim of a drug errors, contract our
experienced attorneys at 1-888-4-MED-LAW.
A report in the April 2008 issue of
the journal of Pediatrics found that drug errors may affect more than 7
percent of all hospitalized children – or roughly 540,000 kids each
year. One of every five of those drug mistakes was preventable,
researchers found.
The accidental heparin overdose of
actor Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins recently received widespread
publicity on 60 Minutes. The latest statistics underscore that
dangerous medical errors among children are much more common than
previously believed.
Traditional detection methods,
which included nonspecific patient chart reviews and voluntary error
reporting, arrived at an estimated drug error rate of 2 children out of
every 100. The new detection method put the number at closer to 11 out
of 100, indicating that some children experienced more than one drug
treatment mistake per hospitalization.
The new monitoring method consisted
of a list of 15 “triggers” on young patients’ charts that suggested
possible drug-related harm. That screening method was then tested in a
study of randomly selected medical charts for 960 children. They were
treated at 12 freestanding U.S. children's hospitals in 2002.
More than half of the drug errors
that the study uncovered were related to morphine and other powerful
painkillers, including overdoses and allergic reactions. One of the
triggers on the list involved the symptoms of morphine overdose and its
antidote, naloxone.
Other triggers included:
- Use of vitamin K, an antidote for an
overdose of the blood thinner Coumadin;
- Use of a blood test that detects
insulin overdoses;
- A lab test that identifies
blood-clotting problems which can be caused by an overdose of the
blood thinner heparin and other drugs.
About 22 percent of the drug errors
turned up by the study were considered preventable and most were
relatively mild. While none of the drug mistakes was fatal or caused
permanent damage, some had the potential to cause serious harm.
Patient safety experts believe the
problem of drug errors among hospitalized children to be even larger
than the study suggests because it only involved a small review of
selected charts. The test did not include general community hospitals,
where most U.S. children are treated.
In the wake of the Pediatrics
article, some hospitals are now using a trigger method to keep better
track of their patients and to cut down on human error. Experts say
that’s a good start but are pushing for a more comprehensive testing
method along with better reporting by hospital staffs.
Contact us at
malpractice@medlawlegalteam.com
or 1-888-4-MEDLAW. We may advise you to request a full copy of your
medical records as soon as possible. Our MedLaw Legal Team of physician
& nurse attorneys, on staff board certified OB-GYN, and registered nurse
paralegals will review your medical records and will promptly let you
know if you have a case.
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