Medication error cases often involve errors during admittance to a hospital that lead to the administration of dangerous, sometimes fatal, doses of medication. In a recent case, a 10-year-old patient at Memorial Hermann Baptist Behavioral Health Center in Texas was given twice the recommended dosage of lithium carbonate. The medication error allegedly began with an admitting nurse incorrectly reporting the amount the patient had been prescribed and continued with doctors and other hospital personnel not catching the mistake. The young boy quickly suffered serious, permanent injury due to lithium carbonate overdose.

Here is a run down of some of the medical malpractice claims that can arise when a hospital gives a patient an overdose of a medication:

• Failure to take a proper history of current medications
• Failure to verify dosage of medications
• Failure to check for proper pediatric dosage
• Failing to assess proper dosage for patient by body weight
• Failure to have adequate policies and procedures in place to prevent medication overdose
• Failure to note and/or report responses to medication
• Failure to be aware of symptoms of a medication overdose
• Failure to timely diagnose an overdose of medication
• Failure to treat an overdose of medication

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Sources: Court Case No. E180-497 filed in SE Texas and David Yates, “Suit alleges hospital oblivious to boy's lithium overdose,” South East Texas Record, October 15, 2007.