How to Prove Medication Errors in Nursing Homes

 Posted on December 28, 2023 in Nursing Home Abuse/ Neglect

When your elderly loved one resides in a nursing home, you trust their well-being to the staff’s care. However, medical mistakes happen too often among overwhelmed employees. If you suspect negligent medication management has put your family member at risk, understanding key evidence needed to demonstrate errors and pursue justice can empower you during a difficult situation. An Illinois personal injury lawyer can help you seek potential justice.

Define What Qualifies as Medication Mismanagement

Many kinds of medication mix-ups constitute negligent nursing home care. From untreated pain because of delayed drug delivery to life-threatening overdoses, examples requiring investigation include:

• Administering contraindicated medicines dangerous to pre-existing conditions
• Ignoring doctor instructions for proper drug dosages and schedules
• Failing to monitor side effects or coordinate treatment adjustments
• Cutting corners with infection control and sterile technique
• Making transcription mistakes transferring orders to charts
• Misfiling drug orders causing duplication of treatments

Any registered nurse should recognize such issues, yet they persist. Now you must substantiate exactly what happened.

Gather Documentation Demonstrating Harm

The most crucial evidence comes directly from the nursing home itself. Request full copies of your loved one’s latest medical charts including doctor orders, medication and vital logs, and administering nursing notes. If anything seems omitted or falsified, that alone may constitute negligent documentation.

Also compile related hospitalization records if the medication problem escalated into an outside health crisis. The more precise data showing where standard nursing protocol broke down, the better.

Securing External Expert Testimony

While family can describe personality changes and visible harm suggesting medication issues, the strongest validation comes from medical experts. A specialist like a geriatric psychiatrist, pharmacologist, or long-term care nurse to review records and evaluate your loved one conclusively cements whether substandard medication practices directly cause decline and injury.

Their detailed professional testimony regarding exactly how the nursing home failed crucial standards of care makes a profound difference in pursuing litigation or settlement.

Act Quickly Because Evidence Disappears

Time is truly of the essence following any suspected nursing home medication error. The facility may work quickly to bury mistakes. Pursuing external expertise immediately while documents still exist gives you the best chance to build an accurate account of how the nursing home’s negligence directly endangered your loved one. This powers strong justice advocacy when harm could have been prevented.

Contact a Glenview, IL Personal Injury Attorney

With substantiated proof in hand, a Northbrook, IL personal injury lawyer can advise about merits for a potential lawsuit or negotiate a possible equitable settlement given the real damages inflicted. Mistakes happen, but negligence cannot be tolerated when the well-being of someone’s beloved family member is at stake. Call Gruzmark Law, Ltd. at 847-729-7660 for a free consultation.