Des Moines Nursing Home Neglect Lawyer | Coumadin Medication Errors

From 2011 to 2014, more than a hundred nursing home residents were hospitalized or died as a result of errors in administering Coumadin, a blood thinner used to prevent strokes and heart attacks.

Coumadin, or its generic version Warfarin, has been called the most dangerous drug in America. Too little, and patients run the risk of developing life threatening clots; too much can lead to uncontrollable bleeding. In the hands of the wrong provider, it can be deadly.

According to an American Journal of Medicine study, nursing home residents suffer nearly 34,000 fatal, life-threatening, or serious events related to the drug each year and some states link Coumadin to most medication errors at nursing homes.

Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services identified Coumadin and other anticoagulants as a drug category most frequently implicated in adverse drug events. HHS is calling on government agencies to work on solutions hoping to raise awareness of the dangers the drug can present to nursing home patients if not properly administered and monitored.

Des Moines Iowa Nursing Home Neglect Lawyer

If you or a family member has been injured in a nursing home or care facility because of a medication error, abuse or neglect, contact the Iowa nursing home abuse and neglect Law Offices of John T. Hemminger for help.