How do I go about claiming compensation for being given the wrong medicine dosage in hospital?
One of the issues about claiming compensation for being given the wrong medicine dosage in hospital is that, in order to make a successful claim for the incorrect dosage of medicine given in hospital, you (or a solicitor on your behalf) must show that you have sustained an injury or the avoidable deterioration of an existing condition because of the negligence of somebody who owed you a duty of care.
Dealing with the ‘injury’ part of that condition first – if you received a higher dose of medicine than prescribed for you, this must have resulted in an ‘adverse effect’ which was recorded in your medical history and for which other treatment was prescribed for you. If you were administered a lower dosage of medicine than prescribed, a claim for the incorrect dosage of medicine given in hospital will have to demonstrate that the mistake caused a significant delay in your recovery.
Establishing an injury occurred at all is difficult – especially when you were recovering from an illness and may not have been fully aware of your environment – but if you were experiencing ill-effects from the incorrect administration of the medicine that was administered to you, and failed to tell anybody, it may not be worth your while to make a claim for compensation for being given the wrong medicine dosage in hospital.
If it possible from your medical records to establish that you have suffered an ‘adverse effect’ due to the negligence of the hospital staff, it still has to be determined where in the course of events the negligence occurred. Although it is likely that the wrong medicine dosage was administered at the point of delivery, it would be wrong to make that assumption – as the error may be due to a technical or administrative mistake.
Therefore, it will be necessary to investigate how you were given the wrong dosage of medicine in hospital and, in order to do this, your solicitor would write to everybody involved with your treatment to obtain any relevant notes and records. This information would then be reviewed by an independent medical expert, who would then determine at what point negligence occurred and supply the evidence of negligence to your solicitor to support a ‘Letter of Claim’.
There is rarely a justifiable defence against a claim for the incorrect dosage of medicine given in hospital and, provided that your solicitor has compiled a strong claim on your behalf, it should not take long for an admission of liability to be received from the Health Service Executive. Once negligence has been admitted, your solicitor will enter into negotiations with the HSE to organise a suitable and adequate settlement of compensation for being given the wrong medicine dosage in hospital.
It is suggested that you contact a solicitor so that it can be established that you have a claim for the incorrect dosage of medicine given in hospital which is worth your while to pursue. Most solicitors offer a free telephone consultation service which would enable you to discuss the circumstances of your injury in relation to your personal situation. We recommend that you take advantage of such a service at the first possible opportunity.