Five Deadly Medication Errors

Medication mistakes are a leading cause of death after traffic accidents, according to Los Angeles Times. Drug related deaths claimed 37,485 lives in 2009, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Following are a run down on five common medication mistakes made:

Drugs that sound and look alike: Drugs that look alike can cause confusion and taking wrong medications can claim precious lives. One challenge for patients and clinicians is to identify pills of same or closely related size and shape. Some medications can be in similar containers and labels. Removal of medication information labels and transferring of pills from one to another container can cause errors when medications are taken.

Some drugs may sound alike. Amaryl (for type 2 diabetes) and Reminyl (for Alzheimer’s disease) may sound the same causing errors. Patients receiving Amaryl in error may not be undergoing a blood glucose monitoring which can lead to life threatening conditions. At times, a doctor’s writing can be hard to decipher causing erroneous dispensation of medicine from the pharmacy.

Taking medications of wrong Dosage: It is easy to misread a label and take medications of wrong dosage. Excess intake of pain medications as over the counter acetaminophen can cause serious damage to the liver. Read the label to understand the dosage of the medication and use dosage spoons and syringes that comes along with the medication.

Taking medication with wrong foods: Some medications and foods counteract with each other. Blood thinners such as Coumadin thin the blood, while foods such as spinach, rich in Vitamin K, promote blood clotting and counteracts with the medicine. Grapefruit juice affects heart medications, immune system drugs, cholesterol lowering agents and allergy medications.

Combining herbal supplements with Prescription drugs: Many have the habit of switching to herbal supplements when prescription drugs seem less effective or vice versa. This too can cause serious side effects. St. John's wort for depression interacts with certain drugs, and these interactions can limit the effectiveness of prescription medicines for depression. In people with diabetes on medications to lower blood sugar, adding ginseng might lower it too much.

Taking multiple medications at the same time: Using over the counter and prescription medications at the same time leads to increase in dosage of certain ingredients. Among elderly, the odds of taking five, six or ten different medications are not rare. Roughly, on average an elderly patient takes five prescription medications and three OTC medications. The effect of multiple medications on the body is unknown to patient and perhaps the doctor. Drug interactions can have negative side-effects and can be deadly.

Medication mistakes are serious and many of them can be avoided. Reading of labels, looking for active ingredients, approaching a physician to double check medications in case of doubt and letting the doctor know about details of all other medications you are on can avoid many fatal medication errors.