I made a med error

Specialties Geriatric

Published

I work in a SNF facility. I am one of the nursing supervisors. About one month ago I discharged a patient to home. On the discharge meds I transcribed Tegretol as Toprol. I also listed Toprol, so he did get that med but also got Tegretol.

One week later I recvd a call from his dialysis clinic asking why he had been started on that med in our facility. When I pulled his chart from medical records I discovered that I had made the error on discharge. I immediately notified our doctor, who was in our facility on rounds, and showed her the chart. I notified my DON. I called the dialysis clinic and notified them so they could dc the med and then I called the patients sister at home and told her I had made an error.

Today my administrator recvd papers from a lawyer. they are suing us over my med error.

I remember when I talked to his sister to tell her of the error that she said he had been dizzy that week but otherwise no adverse effects of the med. But of course I am birthing a cow here.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

I felt horrible when I found out I had made the error. There was nothing else I could do. What irks me is this sue happy mentality of the general public. Every day I see commercials on TV that say "let us sue the nursing home for you". I'm not blaming anyone but myself, *I* made the error. But why do people have to sue?

Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

I think the patient is probably going to come out of this with some settlement, actually. In my state, California, probably he'll get much more than he deserves. This is why your facility pays such exorbitant insurance rates, so that these claims can be settled. It is unfortunate, but it is the way things are. No sense worrying too much about the lawsuit. It could have happened to any of us.

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I am so sorry for your situation since we all make errors. But your situation did alarm me simply because where I work no doc has to sign the DC orders. It had not crossed my mind until I read this thread how dangerous this is, not to mention that I have many times not only written the DC orders (usually by what the person is already taking or what the md ordered over the phone), but also CALLED THEM INTO THE PHARMACY of the pts. choice. I do not know if the pharmacy then calls the md to verify or what. I am under the impression that most likely they do not since after I have given the orders I have been asked "And which md authorized these meds"? I beleive that from now on I will have another nurse sign the discharge orders with me and then fax them to the pharmacy, so at least I will have proof that they received the correct orders from me. I can just see this happening now: The pharmacy saying I called in the wrong med if an error is made even if I didn't.

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I have been working in LTC since I became a nurse in 1996, as well as doing some hospital and agency nursing. I have made med errors...fortunately none of which has been "major", but each and every time I have had one I have learned from it and sure as &^%$^&* haven't done it again!

All I have to say is that if you can show me a nurse who has NEVER made a medication error of some form or another, I will show you a nurse who hung his or her diploma on the wall and has never worked in the real world.

NURSES are HUMAN and HUMANs can make mistakes!! One would hope that they will be minor mistakes with "no harm no foul" type outcomes, but in some instances there will be an effect on the patient.

Hang in there thru the legal mumbo jumbo and keep a positive attitude and learn from your experience. You are right...people are too "sue happy". Those annoying commercials on TV that fish for "have you or a loved one been injured or died because of medical mistakes?" are nothing more than the legal profession drumming up business on other peoples misfortune. (yeah i know lawyers gotta make a living too, but nursing homes don't go out marketing by tripping little ol ladies for ORIF's!)

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i felt horrible when i found out i had made the error. there was nothing else i could do. what irks me is this sue happy mentality of the general public. every day i see commercials on tv that say "let us sue the nursing home for you". i'm not blaming anyone but myself, *i* made the error. but why do people have to sue?

if there is no injury/ residual effect then there is nothing to worry about. i am going to play devils advocate here. when errors are made.....the effects can range from zero to permanent injury that follows them for the remainder of their life. it can alter not only their life, but their families lives forever. in those cases...then yes....absolutely yes they should receive compensation ...bc they came to the hospital/clinic/ltc center expecting to get competent nursing care and when they are the unfortunate victims to errors and that error results in lasting damage......and that error has affected how they live their life then yes.....they should be reimbursed . money cant bring back things like mental capacity/brain damage, or the ability to breathe on their own ....or really pay for their pain. but it is a step in the right direction. i mean.....how much would be " adequate " for you to be compensated if your child suffered an anoxic brain injury d/t a nsg error? there is no amt of money in the world that you would feel would be adequate...you would have much preferred your child to have received adequate care and be left intact. you wouldnt consider yourself as having hit the lotto....you would still feel the money was never enough. so...while their may be some who sue over trivial issues when their is no lasting damage.......according to every report that has been done like " to err is human"....many many people are the victims of malpractice yet very very very few ever file legal action. so...that being said...it sounds like you are saying that this pt has no lasting effects so you should have nothing to worry about ....but again.....most of the folks that do file a lawsuit for negligence etc etc ......they will never be the same again...like i said....how much would be enough to compensate you for a anoxic brain injury to your child that was caused by a nsg error? what dollar amt would be "enough"? id hazard a guess that your response would be ...." the mint doesnt print enough money that could ever compensate you for that....it isnt something you can adequately ever compensate someone for.....so ever malpractice/negligence case should really be looked at like that. not like they just hit the lottery....just my opinion.....again...it sounds like your error didnt result in any injury so that should be it....it probably wont go anywhere legally.

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Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU, Psych, Med-surg...etc....

I carried when I was a clinical nurse. I wanted to make sure that I had something to leave to my children should I ever get sued. They will not only garnish your wages, but will attach to anything you have- home, property, car, life insurance, jewlery, furniture, anything that they can get a dime out of.

It is a shame. People are so ready to say they were injured when they really were not just to make money...it doesn't matter who they hurt or the lives they ruin- it's like the fender bender when the person grabs their back or neck and are permanently disabled- I'm not saying people don't get hurt, but give me a break.

I did not trust the institutions that employed me to completely cover me with insurance. They can always say that you were acting beyond their policy or your scope of practice and you are on your own. I hope it goes well for you!

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Specializes in acute care and geriatric.

Does anyone know of an update? Since this is an old thread, from 2005, perhaps there is a resolution already?

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I'm reading this and it is really scaring me. Noone second checks our admissions or discharges, and the MD does not sign the discharges. What we do is get an order to discharge home. The rest is up to us. We do not get scripts they go home with the meds they are taking. They are told to follow up with their primary. I can now see how this could cause so many potential errors.

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Specializes in acute care and geriatric.
I'm reading this and it is really scaring me. Noone second checks our admissions or discharges, and the MD does not sign the discharges. What we do is get an order to discharge home. The rest is up to us. We do not get scripts they go home with the meds they are taking. They are told to follow up with their primary. I can now see how this could cause so many potential errors.

Time to update ur facilities policy- this is why we learn from each others mistakes. I am just hoping that the nurse involved didnt lose her lawsuit, get fired or lose her license, it was an honest mistake and could have happened to anyone as there was no second check on it.

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time to update ur facilities policy- this is why we learn from each others mistakes. i am just hoping that the nurse involved didnt lose her lawsuit, get fired or lose her license, it was an honest mistake and could have happened to anyone as there was no second check on it.

it sounds like there was no lasting damage, so hopefully the patient is well and thus all the trouble has passed for the nurse. it is easy for us as healthcare personell to only look at one side of this.....but there is always 2 sides. hopefully in this case there was no permanent injury ( and it doesnt sound like there was), but alot of times....and you guys know it is true.....alot of patients are permenently damaged by nursing negligence and physicians negligence. so i guess i just want everyone to remember that. if you havent read the report "to err is human"...you should do so. it kinda gives you a different perspective. just a interesting read....

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