ASDA Pharmacy Wrong Medication Claims Guide – How To Claim Compensation If ASDA Pharmacy Dispenses The Wrong Medication?
ASDA is a popular supermarket chain in the UK. Many of ASDA’s larger stores also have an on-site pharmacy. Services that ASDA Pharmacies offer include: prescription services, travel health services and advice for minor injuries or illnesses. Unfortunately, there are times when ASDA Pharmacies could make prescription errors. This could include an ASDA drug mixup, where medication that has been prescribed to two or more patients is mixed up, or a dispensing error by an ASDA pharmacist, where a patient is given the wrong type or wrong dosage of medication. Unfortunately, these errors could harm the body, causing the person to become ill or their pre-existing medical condition to worsen.
If you have been harmed because of wrong medication negligence on the part of an ASDA Pharmacy, you may be eligible to make a compensation claim. Trust Legal Expert to handle your claim. Our panel of solicitors has decades of experience in handling medical negligence cases, so your claim is bound to be in safe hands.
Call us today on 0800 073 8804, to speak to a medical negligence claims advisor, or use our online claims form to contact us. If we can see that you are owed compensation for a pharmacy error, we may be able to provide you with an experienced medical negligence solicitor who could start working on your claim right away.
Select A Section
- A Guide To ASDA Pharmacy Negligence Claims
- What Is A Pharmacy Negligence Claim?
- Statistics On Wrong Medication Negligence
- Causes Of Pharmacies Making Wrong Medication Errors
- Types Mistakes Which Could Be Made By A Pharmacy
- What Effects Could The Wrong Medication Have On You?
- Steps To Protect Yourself From Negligence By A Pharmacy
- Pharmacy Negligence And Wrong Medication Claims
- Additional Types Of Damages You Could Claim
- No Win, No Fee Claims For ASDA Pharmacy Negligence
- Why Let Us Handle Your Wrong Medication Claim Against A Pharmacy?
- Start A Claim For ASDA Pharmacy Negligence
- Essential Resources
A Guide To ASDA Pharmacy Negligence Claims
ASDA is one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains. It was founded in 1949 when supermarket owners, the Asquith family, merged with the Associated Dairies company of Yorkshire. ASDA was bought by US retail giant Walmart in 1999. As well as offering supermarket shopping, ASDA also offers other services to its customers, such as ASDA Mobile phone services, ASDA Money financial services and the ASDA Pharmacy. According to the Company Chemists Association (CCA), there are 250 ASDA Pharmacies in the UK.
We have created this wrong medication negligence claim against ASDA Pharmacies for anyone who was given the wrong medication by an ASDA Pharmacy and was harmed as a result. We will explain what a prescription error is and how it could happen. We shall also look at what effects an ASDA Pharmacy prescription error could have on a patient. We will explain how to make a prescription negligence claim against an ASDA Pharmacy and have included a claims calculator, similar to a personal injury compensation calculator, which could help you to estimate how much compensation for the wrong prescription could be worth.
Remember, if you have been made ill or had your pre-existing medical condition worsened because of negligence on the part of an ASDA Pharmacy, you may be able to claim compensation for your injuries.
Contact Legal Expert today to talk about your ordeal and if you are able to make a compensation claim, a knowledgeable solicitor will be assigned to your claim.
Sources:
https://thecca.org.uk/our-members/
What Is A Pharmacy Negligence Claim?
Pharmacists owe patients a duty of care. This means that they are obliged to provide them with an adequate standard of care that upholds their health and safety. We will talk about this in more detail later. If the pharmacist acts negligently, causing an unwanted occurrence which leads to the patient becoming injured, ill or worsens a medical condition that they already have, this may be considered pharmacy negligence. Pharmacy negligence is a type of medical negligence and it may also be known as pharmacy malpractice. A common incident of pharmacy negligence could include the pharmacist giving the patient the wrong medication, the wrong dosage of medication, or other types of prescription errors.
If a patient is harmed because of pharmacy negligence, they may be able to make a pharmacy negligence claim for compensation. If you believe that you are owed compensation because of a wrong medication incident at an ASDA Pharmacy, call Legal Expert today to check if you are eligible to claim.
Statistics On Wrong Medication Negligence
How common are wrong medication prescription errors? Prescription errors are a relatively common form of medical negligence. Fortunately, the majority of prescription errors result in moderate to low levels of harm for the patient.
A report conducted by the General Medical Council (GMC) found that as many as 1 in 20 prescriptions across the UK featured an error. Of these, 42% were judged to cause minor harm to the patient, 54% judged to cause moderate harm to the patient and 4% judged to cause severe harm to the patient. This is the same as 1 in 550 prescriptions causing the patient severe harm. These statistics do not relate specifically to pharmacies, but prescriptions in general.
Other findings from the report found that patients were more likely to experience a medication error if they were taking several medications. In fact, there was a 16% increase in the likelihood of an error, with every additional type of medication that the patient took. The report also found that patients aged 75 years or older were more than twice as likely to experience an error than younger patients aged 15-16 years old.
Sources:
Causes Of Pharmacies Making Wrong Medication Errors
In some cases, a doctor may prescribe a patient the wrong medication, or the wrong dosage of their medication. This will cause the pharmacist to make a dispensing error. Pharmacists should talk to the patient or their doctor if they believe that there is an error. If it is the doctor that has made the prescription error, they will usually be held liable for any injuries caused to the patient.
Types Mistakes Which Could Be Made By A Pharmacy
There are a variety of different ways in which pharmacies could make a mistake. Here are some examples of pharmacy medical negligence errors:
Dispensing The Wrong Medication
A dispensing error is made by an ASDA pharmacist, leading to the patient receiving the wrong type of medication. Certain medications could have a toxic effect on the body if taken unnecessarily or in combination with other drugs, potentially causing severe harm to the patient.
Dispensing The Wrong Dosage
A pharmacy gives the patient the wrong dosage due to an error on their part. The pharmacist may dispense either too high a dosage of the medication or too low a dosage of medication to a patient. Either of these could result in the patient’s overall health being impacted. They may find their illness becomes worse, or that they are harmed due to the side effects of the high dosage.
An ASDA Drug Mix Up
An ASDA drug mix up is where a pharmacist mixes up packages belonging to two or more customers so they receive the wrong medication. There was recently an incident in Cornwall where a young child who had been in hospital was prescribed antibiotics. Her mother took the prescription to an ASDA Pharmacy. Later it was discovered that a different name was on the bottle and the medication was not correct. Upon further investigation, it was found that she had been given medication for another patient, with a different medical condition. The branch of ASDA Pharmacy admitted their prescription error. Thankfully the child was unharmed, however, the consequences could have been more serious.
Sources:
News story source: www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/mums-fury-after-asda-pharmacy-3731096
Giving Incorrect Instructions
Pharmacists are also responsible for advising a patient and providing them with information about how to take their medication (for example, some medications don’t work properly if they are not taken with food). If the pharmacist provides the patient with incorrect or misleading information this can lead to the medication being ineffective, or the patient becoming harmed.
Wrongly Mixing Ingredients
If the pharmacist mixes medications, for example, ADHD medication with blood pressure medicine it could lead to people experiencing adverse effects or could see the condition they need to treat with medication worsen.
Dispensing Damaged Or Expired Medication
A pharmacist dispenses medication which is expired or has ingredients which are not fit for use.
What Effects Could The Wrong Medication Have On You?
If a patient is prescribed the wrong medication, they could be harmed in many different ways. If the patient is allergic to a type of medication, such as penicillin, the patient could experience an extreme allergic reaction called an anaphylactic shock, which could result in the patient slipping into a permanent coma, or even dying.
If a patient receives the wrong type of medication, this may also have a toxic effect on the body, leading to them becoming ill. In some instances, the medication may have a harmful effect, when mixed with another type of medication. For example, the blood thinner coumadin should not be mixed with aspirin or ginseng as it can increase the likelihood of internal bleeding, or a cut not healing as quickly as it should.
If a pharmacy gives a patient the wrong dosage, that can also have an adverse effect. If the patient experiences a drug overdose, they could potentially experience cardiac arrest or liver damage. If the patient receives too small a dosage of medication, the medicine may not work at all, causing the patient’s medical condition to get worse over time.
Steps To Protect Yourself From Negligence By A Pharmacy
We advise patients to always check the label before they take their medication to safeguard against any medication mix-ups. Check that it is your name on the label and the medication is what your doctor has prescribed you. When checking the label, make sure the dosage is the same as what your doctor prescribed. Similarly, if the bottle or package your medication came in appears to be correct, but the medication itself looks different to what you usually receive, contact your doctor or pharmacist to make sure there has not been a dispensing error by an ASDA pharmacist.
If you are on a repeat prescription, make sure that the time you are on a repeat prescription does not exceed the recommended duration. This means that your doctor will be able to check that your repeat prescription is still correct for you.
Pharmacy Negligence And Wrong Medication Claims
If you have been made ill, or your existing medical condition was made worse because of an ASDA drug mixup or a dispensing error by an ASDA pharmacist, you could be eligible to claim compensation. You may have come across a personal injury claims calculator before. We find they can be cumbersome to use, so instead, we’ve included a table below detailing relevant injuries and illnesses.
| Type Of Illness Or Injury | Comments On This Injury | Damages with 10% uplift |
|---|---|---|
| Level A – Kidney damage | This is the most serious level of damage. The victim may have severe forms of injury to both of their kidneys, or have lost function in both. | £158,970 – £197,480 |
| Level B – Kidney damage | The victim may have a significant risk of future kidney function loss or similar illness. | Up to £60,050 |
| Level C – Kidney damage | At this level, one of the kidneys has lost most or all function, but the other kidney is working. | £28,880 – £42,110 |
| Level A – Chest injuries | Chest injuries may cause harm to the internal organs situated in the chest. Level A includes significant injuries. | £94,470 – £140,870 |
| Level (i) non traumatic injuries | Such injuries or illness may lead to you suffering toxicosis, pain, vomiting or diarrhoea. | £36,060 – £49,270 |
| Level (ii) non traumatic injuries | Such injuries should not be permanent. They may cause harm to your sexual function or to your bowels. | £8,950 – £18,020 |
| Level (iii) non traumatic injuries | The victim may experience some form of pain or discomfort. They may require hospitalisation. | £3,710 – £8,950 |
| Non traumatic injury – Level (iv) | This is the lowest level of non-traumatic injury. Claimants may experience symptoms similar to those in other categories, but at a lower level. | £860 – £3,710 |
Please be aware that the figures in this table are just estimates. The value of each claim is determined by its unique set of facts. For a more precise estimate as to how much money your prescription medical negligence claim could be worth, call Legal Expert today to speak to an advisor.
Additional Types Of Damages You Could Claim
If you make a successful prescription negligence claim against an ASDA Pharmacy, you will be awarded a compensation package consisting of two heads of claim: general damages and special damages. General damages compensate you for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity that you experienced as a result of your injuries.
Special damages reimburse the claimant for any financial losses or out of pocket expenses that they have experienced as a result of their injuries. Examples of special damages you may be able to claim for medical negligence at a pharmacy include loss of income, medical expenses, travel expenses, home adaptation expenses, at-home care expenses, or mobility equipment expenses, should your injuries have caused you to become disabled.
No Win, No Fee Claims For ASDA Pharmacy Negligence
If you have been made ill or had your existing medical condition made worse because of ASDA Pharmacy malpractice, you may be able to make a medical negligence claim for compensation. If you decided to pursue a claim with us, we can put you in touch with one of our specialist solicitors who will offer to represent you on a No Win, No Fee basis. What are the advantages of making a No Win, No Fee claim?
- You will not need to pay any fees upfront or during your claim to your solicitor. If your claim is unsuccessful you will not have to pay any of the fees your solicitor has incurred in pursuing your case. This makes No Win, No Fee claims more affordable for many of our clients.
- If your claim is successful, your solicitor may seek a small contribution toward their fees. This is known as a success fee and would be deducted from the compensation awarded at the end of the claim. Don’t worry, success fees are legally capped and will be confirmed with you before beginning the claim.
To learn more about making a No Win, No Fee claim, read our online guide. Alternatively, get started on your claim by calling Legal Expert today for your free medical negligence claims consultation.
Why Let Us Handle Your Wrong Medication Claim Against A Pharmacy?
If you were given the wrong dosage of medication, the wrong type of medication, mixed medication, expired medication, or were misinformed about how to take your medicine safely and effectively, you could be entitled to claim compensation. Why choose Legal Expert to handle your claim?
- You will receive a free in-depth personal injury claims consultation where we will be happy to answer all your questions.
- You will be assigned a specialist solicitor with 30 years of experience to work on your case, so you know your claim will be in safe hands.
- Our panel of solicitors always strives to achieve the maximum amount of compensation possible for their clients.
- Every client gets the option to make a No Win, No Fee claim, so there is less financial risk involved for them.
Start A Claim For Asda Pharmacy Negligence
Start your claim today. Call Legal Expert on 0800 073 8804, or use our online claims form to reach us. If you have legitimate grounds to claim compensation from ASDA Pharmacy, we would love to represent you. So call us today! We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
Essential Resources
In the following resources from Legal Expert, you can learn more about how to make a successful compensation claim for medical negligence.
Clinical And Medical Negligence – Our guide to claiming compensation for the adverse effects of medical or clinical negligence.
NHS Negligence Claims – How Much Compensation Can I Claim? – Our guide to making a claim against the NHS for harm caused by medical negligence.
How Much Compensation For Medical Negligence Resulting In Death? – Our guide to making a compensation claim for medical negligence which has to lead to a patients death.
External Resources
In the following external resources, you can learn more about pharmaceutical and prescription errors.
An NHS News Report About The Number Of Prescription Errors – A report from the NHS looking are prescription errors.
A Guide To Avoiding Prescription Errors From The Pharmaceutical Journal – How prescription errors may be avoided.
Written by Chelache
Edited by Billing