When Chicago doctors prescribe patients with a new drug, doctors are required to adequately warn patients about any side effects they may experience. Additionally, doctors should also advise patients to call them if they begin to experience any dangerous reactions to the drugs. Failing to properly address a patient’s concerns regarding the effects of a medication could cause the patient to suffer serious injuries that should have otherwise been prevented.
In a recent case, a federal judge has ordered an ex-prisoner and the correctional facility’s medical provider to hold a settlement conference regarding a lawsuit that has been filed by the former inmate after he suffered severe injuries from a reaction to a drug he had been prescribed to take while in prison.
The man’s lawsuit states that he was prescribed to take a medication for conditions he had no history of being diagnosed with. After taking the drug, the inmate then suffered from a serious reaction to the medication, but he claims that he was not treated adequately by the facility’s medical staff and suffered further health complications as a result of negligence.
As a result of his injuries from the medication and from the delay in proper treatment, the man now needs a personal-care attendant to help him with normal, daily activities. The reaction also caused the man to become blind in one eye and partially blind in the other eye.
We will continue this discussion next week on our Chicago medical malpractice law blog, focusing on the severe reaction the man suffered after taking the drug that medical staff prescribed to him and how his condition became life-threatening after medical staff failed to properly treat him for the reaction.
Source: The Republic, “Minn. ex-prisoner sues over severe drug reaction,” Dec. 14, 2011
Hospital Negligence + Medication Errors
