Being prescribed wrong or unnecessary drugs by doctors happens frequently, and can lead to serious injuries. To make sure it doesn’t happen to you, here are five quick questions you can ask your doctor to minimize the risk:
1. Is this drug the right dosage for me? Everybody is different, but some doctors may think that one dosage fits all. This is simply not the case. Sometimes smaller people are given the same dosage amounts as people weighing two or three times as much. Those patients get pound for pound two or three times as much medication as a larger person.
2. Is this drug being prescribed to treat a problem that can be treated with a lifestyle change? Some problems have causes that respond very well to non-drug treatments like diet and exercise, and often your doctor can uncover these causes by taking a careful history. Doctors should recommend lifestyle changes as the first approach for these conditions, rather than automatically reaching for the prescription pad.
3. What was this medicine developed to treat? Getting as much information about the medicine being prescribed to you and what it specifically treats can go a long way towards preventing you from taking something that might be harmful down the road.
4. Will this drug interact with any of the others I’m taking, or with my daily vitamins? If you currently take daily vitamins or other medication, let your doctor know to prevent any harmful drug interactions.
5. What side effects are likely, and what do I do if they occur? Ask for written information about the side effects your medicine could cause. If you know what might happen, you will be better prepared.
Sometimes negligent prescriptions can be so harmful or dangerous, they injure the patient. In addition, certain medications are especially dangerous for any patient and end up being recalled by the FDA because they do so much harm.
If you've been badly injured by a medication, contact us as soon as possible. Call us at 816-842-7100 to speak with an attorney that will fight to get you the compensation you deserve. Or you can click here to email us and schedule your free consultation. We take all cases on a contingency basis, which means that we don’t get paid unless we win the case for you.