When your child requires medical attention — whether it be for a routine checkup, procedure or surgery — you put your trust in the doctors and other medical staff members to care for them in all stages of the process. This includes the aftermath.
If a child requires medication for their recovery period, most parents don’t think twice about having to deal with the repercussions of a mistake in the prescription. However, even the smallest oversight on the doctor’s part can lead to additional medical complications for your child.
So how can parents work to ensure that this does not happen?
Get involved in the process
When it comes to your child’s safety and recovery, it’s important to be prepared and involved. There are several proactive steps you can take to ensure that your kid’s medication won’t harm them:
- Always carry a list: Have a list handy of any and all current medication your child is on. Combining certain prescription medications with others can result in life-threatening reactions. When you make a list, you won’t forget any important details of your child’s medications. A doctor can then accurately prescribe a safe option for your child.
- Notify doctor of allergies: It is possible that your child might have an allergy to a certain type of medicine. When you let your doctor know about what allergies your child has, they can determine what — if any — medication might cause a harmful reaction.
- Ask questions: Even if you feel like you’re asking an incessant amount of questions, it’s better to educate yourself than to make guesses. Don’t hesitate to clarify the dosage of the medication, as well as the best way to administer it. Does your child need to take it with food? How often should they take it? Asking these questions and more might even alert your doctor to red flags or mistakes they might not have caught when they initially prescribed the medication.
- Know the side effects: One crucial aspect to understand about your child’s prescription is the potential side effects it could have. When you know what to expect, you can recognize when to get help if your child displays a side effect that you didn’t talk about with your doctor.
Hold negligent doctors responsible
Almost no amount of involvement is too much involvement when it comes to your child’s health and safety. However, in the unfortunate situation that a doctor’s inattentiveness or poor decision-making caused your kid to suffer from an incorrect prescription, don’t hesitate to protect your child and explore your legal options.