A nursing home was fined by the state after a patient received the wrong dose of an anti-seizure medication for 40 days. The error was not discovered until the patient suffered a seizure. The facility didn’t have a system to make sure that medications were administered properly, according to the state citation.
The facility has had numerous problems. In one case, it was cited by the state with the most serious citation for not calling a doctor when a man lost more than 87 pounds in 19 days. At the end of the 19 days, the man was found unresponsive and was taken to the hospital. For more about this facility, read the story.
A nursing home or assisted living facility must ensure that medication
errors do not occur with its patients. Medication errors occur when the
nursing home or assisted living facility prepares or administers drugs
contrary to a physician’s order, the manufacturer’s specifications, or
accepted professional standards. When a facility’s medication error
rate (based on the number of medication errors divided by the number of
times medications are administered) is 5% or greater, the facility
likely suffers from systemic problems with its medication
administration system.
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Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is
dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of nursing
home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke,
Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia.
