A young person swallows an entire bottle of medication along with alcohol. Is the resulting overdose and possible death something a physician can be held liable for?  A label is written incorrectly, and an accidental overdose occurs. Is the mislabeling of the medication malpractice?

This Malpractice Guide guide discusses whether or not a physician can be held liable for prescribing too much medication.

Overdosing leads to complex questions. Can a physician be liable for prescribing too much medication? There are no easy answers, but here are the most common types of verifiable malpractice lawsuits that involve overdosing. These are grounds for a malpractice lawsuit, and a competent medical malpractice attorney can help you understand how to proceed.

Types of Overdose Malpractice

Allowing Refills on Class II narcotics is against the law. Take the young person in our first example. If he or she had a prescription written in error by a physician, that might be malpractice. It’s possible the doctor should have known the person already had a the medication and should not have been given a prescription for a refill.

Prescribing a dose of medication that is too large, leading to an overdose, is an obvious case of medical malpractice. If the labeling error was the doctor’s fault, he or she is liable. If the pharmacy made the error, the pharmacist is liable.

When a physician should know – because of medical records – that a person cannot tolerate, or has a reaction to a type of medication, the physician is negligent if the medication is prescribed. This is malpractice.

There are several other ways that too much medication can be given leading to overdose. If the medication is being given intravenously and is administered too quickly, this is malpractice. If anesthesia is given too heavily, overdose can lead to fatal results. Anesthesiologists have some of the highest malpractice insurance rates in the industry because errors with anesthesia are common and have devastating impact.

Malpractice Lawyers Specializing in Overdose Issues

Medical malpractice attorneys who specialize in these types of issues are often called overdose attorneys. They have good experience in malpractice overdose cases and use medical experts to help make the case for malpractice. If you or a family member has been the victim of overdosing errors, contact malpractice attorneys that can advise you on how to proceed.