Pill mix-up blamed for widow’s death

Those in Essex who depend on prescription medication may be interested to hear about a case in which an 86-year-old pensioner perished after taking the wrong pills. According to reports, the Inverness-shire woman was discovered unresponsive by her 65-year-old son in late 2013, and later investigation revealed that the pills she had consumed caused her to suffer a hypoglycaemic brain injury.

Notably, the elderly widow who died wasn’t solely to blame for taking the incorrect medication. The Kingussie Boots pharmacy actually gave her pills meant for a patient with a similar name. Although the pharmacy’s manager stated that it stored the two women’s medication side-by-side in alphabetical order, images released by the police indicated that the pharmacy may have been lax in its organization.

According to authorities, the Crown will not prosecute the pharmacy’s manager or its workers. The family also declined to pursue legal action on their own. It’s unclear whether the mix-up might have resulted in treatment complications in addition to causing the initial harm, but upon the woman’s admission to hospital, staff mistakenly identified her as the other patient named on the medication.

Medical malpractice can take many forms, including improper administration of medicine or other incorrectly-applied treatments. No matter how they occur, however, these incidents have the potential to result in severe negative outcomes, such as a worsened medical condition. Those harmed by this type of negligence could end up having to pay additional medical costs for their new treatment requirements, and they may wish to consult with a solicitor who has experience with these types of claims in order to determine what their available remedies may be