Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California

AIDS patient, given wrong dosage medication

I am a 13 year HIV/AIDS survivor. In the past 4 years I have been hospitalized 2 times for periods of 30 to 90 days, both times in ICU and almost dying. My medications are crucial to my survival. In July 2007, I was hospitalized in Palm Springs, CA with pneumonia and kidney failure and my t-cells were very low. After spending most of the month of July there, I got better and it was stressed the importance of staying on these medications and taking them properly. I decided to go home to Indianapolis for a few months to recover and got a 90 day supply of all my meds. About a month into my 90 day supply I realized that one of my meds was misdosed. I was supposed to be taking 600mg a day (3 pills of 200mg, or 1 pill of 600). I was instead given a prescription for 200mg once a day. Luckily, I noticed this error, went to the same brand name pharmacy here locally and asked for assistance. This pharmacist called the one in California and they didn't help at all. I had enough pills to take 3 of them a day until I had the error fixed. Long story short, the pharmacy didn't fix it and I almost ran out of meds. They have since fixed the problem, but I have had to go to the hospital for the onset of pneumonia again. Can I sue??


Asked on 10/24/07, 9:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mitchell Roth MW Roth, Professional Law Corporation

Re: AIDS patient, given wrong dosage medication

Of course you can sue, but, causation is pretty difficult to prove. You would have to find a qualified expert physician to testify that but for the mistake on your dosage you would not have had pneumonia again. They will have an expert to testify otherwise. I would be for a jury to decide. You would have to pony up about $30,000 to pay the experts and take depositions at the risk of losing the case. I doubt any med mal lawyer would take this one. Especially since you knew your dosage and failed to discover the problem yourself.

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Answered on 10/30/07, 6:52 pm


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