New York Injury Talk Blog

Medical errors, especially those that involve prescription mistakes, are extremely tragic. They result in unnecessary injuries and sometimes even death. These are injuries and deaths that can be easily prevented by having supervision implemented and strict adherence to rules and regulations. But the reality is that prescription errors occur far too often in New York City hospitals and elsewhere in the United States.

According to a recent news report, a children's hospital has admitted that its doctors wrongfully prescribed a fentanyl pain patch for a 15-year-old autistic boy after a dental procedure. The teenager died in March when the pain patch was given after dental surgery. It proved to be the inappropriate drug and dosage for the boy. Since the boy was autistic and couldn't speak well or tolerate swallowing medicine, the hospital's dentist prescribed a fentanyl patch. Although his mother was concerned about it, doctors and nurses assured her that it would be fine. Well, it was not. That night, the 15-year-old died as a result of a fatal dose of fentanyl.

The boy's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital. Wrongful death lawsuits are usually filed against certain parties when negligence or wrongdoing is involved. In such cases, plaintiffs are not only eligible to seek compensatory damages, but also punitive damages. A number of medical malpractice victims tend to pursue these lawsuits also as a way to try to make sure that something like this never happens again.