As knowledge of the human body has increased, so has knowledge of medical treatments and medications. And as a result, the use of prescription drugs has skyrocketed in recent years. Nearly four billion prescriptions are filled in the US each year, and though people generally feel that they can trust the pharmacist to fill these prescriptions accurately, mistakes happen all too often. An estimated 30 million prescriptions are filled incorrectly every year. In the year 2000, it was estimated that as many as 7,000 deaths occur each year as a result of pharmaceutical errors.

The statistics are mind-boggling. And many of the stories leave us speechless. In one instance, a 5-year-old boy was given a drug at five times the prescribed dosage and was found dead in his bed the next morning. Another young boy was given steroids instead of blood pressure medicine. He entered early puberty and experienced fits of uncontrollable rage. Yet another woman miscarried when her pharmacy gave her chemotherapy drugs in place of her prenatal vitamins.

These horrifying scenarios are not at all uncommon in a time when pharmacists are overworked and exhausted and are pressured to fill prescriptions as quickly as possible. When understaffed pharmacies are filling several hundred prescriptions each day, these are the kinds of potentially lethal mistakes that happen:

1. The prescription is filled at a higher or lower dosage than what was actually prescribed by the doctor. 2. The prescription is filled with an incorrect medication, often one whose name looks similar to the medication actually prescribed. 3. The doctor's dosing instructions can be confused and entered incorrectly on the prescription label. (For example, "every day" instead of "every other day.") 4. Medications can potentially be mixed up, with the label for one prescription mistakenly placed on another person's medication bottle.

There are a few things that consumers can do to safeguard themselves against these potentially fatal pharmaceutical errors, though. Make sure you understand exactly what your prescription is at the time you receive it from your doctor. In your own handwriting, write down the name of the medication, the correct dosage, and when and how to take it. Do not leave your doctor's office or hang up the phone until you are certain you understand how your prescription should be filled. When you get your prescription from the pharmacy, open it right there at the counter and verify the label with the information you wrote down. Make sure the medication's name and dose match your doctor's instructions exactly. Open the bottle and inspect the medication itself. If you have taken this medication before, make sure it looks the same. If you have not, ask the pharmacist to verify that this is the correct medication.

If you have suffered injury or loss, in Los Angeles, as the result of a gross pharmaceutical error, please contact a Los Angeles personal injury attorney for help.