One wrong pill. One missed dose. That’s all it takes for a nursing home resident’s health to spiral out of control.
When you trust a nursing home to care for your loved one, you expect every medication to be handled with precision and care. But the reality is often far different. Even minor mistakes can trigger confusion, illness, or lasting harm, and in severe cases, medication errors can be fatal.
Read on to learn why medication errors happen, when they amount to negligence by nursing home doctors and staff, what you can do to protect your loved one, and how a nursing home abuse lawyer can help.
How Medication Errors Happen
In Nebraska nursing homes, medication management should be a meticulous and closely monitored process. Staff are expected to record, store, and administer each prescription correctly under the supervision of a registered nurse. But sometimes, those steps aren’t followed. Studies show that up to 27% of nursing home residents experience a medication error, and nearly three-quarters receive medications inappropriate for their condition.
Common causes of medication errors include:
- Staffing Shortages: When nurses or aides are responsible for too many residents, they may rush through medication rounds and miss critical safety checks.
- Communication Failures: Important updates between doctors, pharmacies, and staff can be missed or delayed, leading to wrong or outdated prescriptions.
- Inadequate Training: Employees who don’t fully understand medication procedures may give incorrect dosages or overlook dangerous side effects.
- Poor Recordkeeping: Missing signatures, outdated charts, or unclear documentation can cause confusion about whether a dose was given or needs to be repeated.
- Intentional Misconduct: Staff deliberately ignore care plans, give sedatives to make residents easier to manage, or alter records to hide mistakes.
When medication is mismanaged, it can lead to serious health consequences, especially for residents with multiple medical conditions.
Types of Medication Errors
Lapses in medication safety can happen in many ways. These are the most frequent errors and how each can affect a resident’s health:
| Type of Error | What It Means | Complications |
| Wrong Medication | A resident receives a drug that wasn’t prescribed for them. | Can cause allergic reactions, drug interactions, or dangerous side effects. |
| Wrong Dosage | Staff give too much or too little of a prescribed medication. | Leads to overdose, withdrawal, or uncontrolled medical conditions. |
| Wrong Timing or Missed Doses | Medication is given too early, too late, or not at all. | Reduces the drug’s effectiveness and can trigger medical emergencies. |
| Failure to Monitor | Staff don’t watch for side effects, drug interactions, or changes in the resident’s condition. | Allows treatable complications to become life-threatening. |
| Mix-Up Between Residents | Medications are given to the wrong person during distribution. | Causes immediate harm and is considered a serious breach of duty. |
Families often notice changes in their loved one’s wellbeing before staff acknowledge what happened. When a previously stable loved one begins to show unexplained symptoms or experiences a sudden hospitalization, it may be a sign that something went wrong with their medication.
When these warning signs point to a pattern of carelessness, it may be more than a mistake; it may be negligence.
When a Medication Error Becomes Negligence
Not every mistake leads to a lawsuit. But if your case meets these four legal elements, you may have a strong claim:
- Duty: The nursing home was responsible for giving medications safely and according to established procedures.
- Breach: Staff failed to meet that duty by ignoring protocols or acting carelessly.
- Causation: The mistake caused injury or made an existing medical condition worse.
- Damages: The resident suffered measurable harm as a result.
An experienced Nebraska nursing home abuse lawyer can review medication records and staff charts to find where mistakes occurred and how they caused harm. They can also work with medical experts to link the facility’s actions to the resident’s injuries or decline.
What To Do if You Suspect a Medication Error
If you believe a medication error harmed your loved one, take these steps to preserve evidence and protect their safety:
- Request Documentation: Ask for the medication administration record, the physician’s orders, and pharmacy reports.
- Keep Notes: Write down dates, symptoms, and any explanations you receive from staff.
- Seek an Outside Medical Opinion: A doctor not affiliated with the facility can review the medications and identify irregularities.
- Report the Issue: File a complaint with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to initiate an investigation.
- Speak With an Attorney: A qualified nursing home neglect lawyer can help investigate, secure evidence, and take formal action if the facility refuses to cooperate.
It is vital to act quickly. You only have two years to file a prescription error lawsuit in court in Nebraska. The sooner you involve legal counsel, the better the chance of gathering evidence and seeking damages for the harm caused.
Protect Your Loved One’s Rights
Entrusting your family member to a nursing home is never an easy decision. When that trust is broken by careless or intentional mishandling of medications, families deserve answers and accountability.
At Friedman Law Offices, we’ve been standing up for Nebraska families since 1962. We understand how nursing homes operate, the warning signs they often ignore, and what it takes to prove negligence has occurred.
Don’t wait to get help. Medication errors can cause rapid changes in a resident’s health, and early intervention can prevent further harm.
Contact us today for a free consultation to learn how we can help your loved one get the care and respect they deserve.