Indiana Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

The Indiana medical malpractice lawyers at Garau Germano Hanley & Pennington, P.C. recently obtained a $1.2 million verdict in a jury trial in the DuBois County Superior Court in Jasper, Indiana.

The medical malpractice verdict was reached by the jury on January 21, 2011 in the case of Meserve v. P. Bryan Lilly, D.O. In July of 2004, Dr. Lilly chose to prescribe a 75 microgram Duragesic patch to a patient he saw in the emergency room, Chad Aders. The Duragesic patch distributes a potent narcotic called fentanyl through the skin and into the patient's bloodstream. The dosage prescribed by Dr. Lilly was far in excess of the manufacturer's recommendations for administration of the drug. Mr. Aders had the prescription filled, applied the patch as he had been instructed, and was found dead in his bed the following day. He was 37 years old and left behind three children, ages 7, 8 and 17.

Jerry Garau represented Mr. Aders' children in the case, which was tried from January 18 to January 21, 2011. After four days of trial, the jury needed only 58 minutes to return a verdict for the full amount requested, $1,206,394.72.

Indiana residents are injured and killed every year as a result of prescription medication errors. Indiana's experience is mirrored on a national level. A 2006 report from the National Academy of Science's Institute fo Medicine estimated that 1.5 million people every year are harmed by medication errors in the United States. The issue received national attention in late 2007 when actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins received accidental overdoses of a blood-thinning drug.

 Accidental overdose is one of the more common medication errors.  For example, a patient who is supposed to receive .5 milligrams of a drug instead receives 5 milligrams because the person administering the drug does not see the decimal point. These errors can also result from faulty labeling of the drug by the drug's manufacturer.  Medication errors also occur when the prescribing physician fails to take into account possible interactions between the drug being prescribed and medications the patient is already receiving.  

The law firm of Garau Germano Hanley & Pennington, P.C., has handled claims involving medication errors for patients throughout the state of Indiana.  If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of a medication error, please contact us.