Brain Injuries Caused by Overdoses: New York Medical Malpractice

A medication is a drug.  A drug is a substance intended to create or invoke a response from the body.  This could be to lower blood pressure, reduce a fever, change cholesterol, or create some other response.  These are powerful substances.  The more a medication will create a response, the more the medication is likely to be powerful.  For instance, the most powerful pain killers like fentanyl or morphine are also very dangerous.

For these reason, when doctors are ordering medications or when healthcare providers like physician assistants or nurses are administering medications, the more powerful the medication and the more powerful it is, the more careful a healthcare provider must be.  When providers are not careful in the prescribing or administering of medications, it can result in an overdose.

An overdose with a powerful medication is a medical emergency.  With some pain medications, an overdose can cause a brain injury.  This is due to a hypoxic, or lack of oxygen, condition that an overdose of pain medication can brain.  There could be swelling or even brain bleeds with an overdose of pain medication because most pain medications thin the blood.  In great amounts, this thinning can result in brain bleeds.  Any time a patient has a brain bleed, it will increase the pressure in the skull which can cause damage to the pain.

In addition to bleeding and swelling risks, overdoses can also become very toxic.  This toxicity can result in damage to the nerves or brain tissue.  Damage to brain tissue or nerves from too much medication, like a pain killer, can become permanent.  This damage can effect balance, processing, sensation, and more severe damage could affect cognitive function.

The thing about an overdose is that it is preventable and should never happen.  Careful review and treatment from a physician and healthcare provider should save a patient from this fact.  When prescribing medications, physicians must use particularly care when the medications are strong.  Some computer systems in major medical offices or hospitals will check for dangerous doses of medication to ensure that a patient is not being given a particularly dangerous or lethal dose, or for interactions which could result in fatal reactions.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.