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Medication Overdose Lawyer
Experienced Kentucky and Ohio Medical Malpractice Attorneys for Medication Overdoses

Prescription pain medication must be carefully prescribed and managed to avoid the risk of overdose, which can lead to severe harm or even death. When doctors fail to follow proper protocols or make errors in prescribing or administering medications and these errors lead to a patient’s injury or death due to overdose, they can be held accountable through a medication overdose lawsuit.
Taking the wrong medication or overdosing due to a healthcare provider’s mistake can result in life-altering consequences, making it essential for victims or family members of these victims to seek experienced legal help. If you or a loved one has suffered from a medication overdose, the dedicated attorneys at The Lawrence Firm (TLF) are here to help. Our legal team has over 50 years of experience handling medical malpractice cases, including those involving wrong medication and medication overdose lawsuits. We understand the devastation caused by these events and work tirelessly to pursue the compensation you deserve for the harm caused by this medical negligence.
Reach out to TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm today by calling (800) 698-4054 or sending a message online to schedule a free consultation with a skilled medication overdose lawyer on our team. With offices in Cincinnati and Covington, we are proud to serve clients across both Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio, providing injury victims with the legal support needed to navigate challenging medical malpractice claims such as these.

What Will Happen If You Take the Wrong Dosage of Medicine?
Taking the wrong dosage of medication, whether too much or too little, can lead to dangerous side effects and serious health risks. On one hand, taking too little medication can reduce its effectiveness, potentially allowing a condition to worsen or become more difficult to treat. In some cases, underdosing can lead to prolonged illness, increased symptoms, or further complications, particularly with chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, or infections.
The consequences of taking too much medication can be even more threatening. A medication overdose occurs when a person takes more than the prescribed or recommended amount of medication, overwhelming the body’s ability to process it safely. Overdoses can happen due to medical negligence, such as a doctor prescribing the wrong drug or incorrect dosage, or by personal error, such as misunderstanding the instructions on a prescription label. In either case, the result can be dangerous, especially with potent medications like painkillers, sedatives, or certain heart medications. This is especially true for certain vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or a pregnant mother, as taking the wrong dosage carries even more risks, making proper management of medication of utmost importance.
The potential consequences of a medication overdose vary depending on the drug, the dosage, and the individual’s health, but may include severe injury or long-term health complications. Some common effects of an overdose include organ damage, seizures, difficulty breathing, or unconsciousness. In more serious cases, overdose can result in permanent disability, brain injury, or even death.

Common Causes of Medication Errors and Overdoses
A medication error or overdose often stems from mistakes made by various healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacies. These errors may include:
- Incorrect Dosage Prescribed by Health Care Providers – misjudging the appropriate amount of medication for a patient
- Miscommunication Between Healthcare Professionals – such as between a doctor and nurse, leading to incorrect administration
- Pharmacy Mistakes – pharmacy dispensing the wrong drug or dosage due to labeling or interpretation errors
- Misunderstanding Medication Instructions – patients taking the wrong amount due to unclear directions
- Mix-ups with Similar-Sounding Drug Names – resulting in the wrong drug being prescribed or administered
- Failure to Review a Patient’s Medical History – such as a physician not considering allergies, existing conditions, or drug interactions when prescribing
- Patient Self-Administration Errors – such as taking multiple doses too close together or failing to follow proper timing
- Lack of Monitoring in High-Risk Patients – such as the elderly, pregnant, or those with complex medical conditions
- Confusion with Over-The-Counter Medications – leading to accidental overdose when combined with prescription drugs

Common Types of Medication Overdoses
Overdoses can occur with a wide range of treatments, from pain medications like opioids to more specialized drugs like chemotherapy, radiation treatments, anesthesia, and antidepressants. Each type of overdose presents unique risks, and understanding the common causes and effects of these overdoses is crucial for preventing serious harm or long-term health complications.
Pain Medication Overdose
A very common and tragic scenario that can potentially lead to overdose is when patients become addicted to their prescribed pain medications. There is often a stigma associated with pain medication overdose. However, most people who suffer from pain medication addiction genuinely need the medicine to cope with excruciating pain, at least initially. Unfortunately, many of these medications, such as oxycodone, Demerol, Darvocet, morphine, and codeine, are highly addictive.
What’s more, patients often develop tolerance to pain medication, causing them to need more of the drug to alleviate pain. Aside from the increased risk of overdose from taking large amounts of medication, these drugs can also be dangerous when mixed with other medications or with certain types of food. As such, doctors who carelessly prescribe these pain medications are putting their patients’ lives at risk and should be held liable in the event that their patients suffer harm or death due to their negligent actions.

Opioid Overdose
Opioid-related overdoses are one of the most common types of drug overdoses in the world. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80% of the 600,000 fatalities attributed to drug use in 2019 were linked to opioids, with around 25% resulting specifically from opioid overdoses.
Health care providers can be held responsible for opioid overdoses when they fail to prescribe the correct dosage, do not properly monitor patients, or overlook a patient’s medical history and risk factors, such as previous substance abuse.
In some cases, doctors may prescribe opioids for too long or in too high quantities, leading to dependency or accidental overdose. Medical negligence in these situations can result in severe injury, brain damage, or even death, making it critical for healthcare professionals to exercise caution and follow strict guidelines when prescribing opioids.
Chemo Overdose
Chemotherapy is a powerful cancer-fighting drug, but when a patient receives too much, it can lead to severe and often life-threatening side effects. If doctors administer the wrong dosage, fail to account for a patient’s weight, age, or medical history, or do not adequately monitor the patient during treatment, these mistakes can result in organ damage, extreme toxicity, or wrongful death.
Radiation Overdose
Radiation therapy uses high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells or shrink tumors, but when administered in excess, it can also cause serious harm. Overexposure to radiation can lead to side effects such as serious burn injuries, organ damage, and an increased risk of secondary cancers. If a healthcare professional administers too much radiation, either through improper calibration of equipment or miscalculating the required dose, they can be held liable for the resulting harm.

Anesthesia Overdose
In order to block pain and induce unconsciousness during surgery, physicians may utilize anesthesia. However, it is incredibly important that healthcare professionals take extreme care and precautions when administering anesthesia, as even the slightest anesthesia errors can be catastrophic.
Anesthesiologists may be liable for anesthesia overdoses if they miscalculate the dosage, fail to properly monitor the patient during surgery, or do not consider the patient’s medical history, such as pre-existing conditions or allergies. Such negligence can have devastating effects, including permanent brain injury, respiratory failure, and cardiac arrest. In some situations, it may also prove to be fatal.
Antidepressant Overdose
Antidepressants can be great for treating mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, but taking too much, whether due to being prescribed the improper dosage or failure to consider potential drug interactions, can also result in an overdose. Antidepressant overdoses can lead to dangerous side effects such as heart arrhythmias, seizures, and extreme changes in blood pressure. In severe cases, an antidepressant overdose can be life-threatening, causing organ failure or coma.

Can You Sue a Hospital For Overdosing a Patient?
If a medication overdose case was the direct result of substandard care provided by medical professionals, patients and/or their families can sue the responsible hospital or physician for medical malpractice. In the context of medication overdoses, medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, leading to harm or injury. This standard of care refers to the level of treatment that a reasonably competent medical professional would provide under similar circumstances. If a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist prescribes the wrong dosage, administers the wrong drug, or fails to monitor a patient’s response properly, this could constitute a breach of duty and form the basis of a medical malpractice case.
To succeed in a legal action for a medication overdose, the patient (or their family) must prove that the medical professional’s negligence directly caused the overdose and resulting harm. This involves demonstrating that the provider’s actions or omissions fell below the expected standard of care, which then led to the patient’s injury or death. If successful, the patient may be entitled to financial recovery for damages such as medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and more.
Legal Options for Victims and Their Families
Those injured by a medication overdose or families of those who have lost a loved one due to an overdose have several legal options available to them. For one, they may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit to recover compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other damages. In cases where the overdose results in death, families may pursue wrongful death claims to recover damages. Additionally, victims may explore settlements with medical providers or insurance companies to resolve the matter outside of court, potentially securing compensation without a lengthy trial.
If victims of medication overdoses do choose to pursue legal action, it is crucial that they act within the designated timeframes, as failing to file within their state’s prescribed statute of limitations may prevent them from pursuing a claim. In Kentucky, the statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice claim for injuries or wrongful death is typically one year from the date the injury was discovered or should have been discovered. In Ohio, the timeline is also generally one year from the date of the injury or from when the patient becomes aware of the injury. However, if the medication error resulted in wrongful death, Ohio increases the statute of limitations to two years to file a claim.
By working with an experienced Ohio or Kentucky medication error attorney at TLF, we can help you understand all of your legal rights and options as well as ensure that everything is taken care of in a timely and professional manner.

How Our Kentucky and Ohio Medical Malpractice Lawyers Can Help Victims of Medication Overdoses
At TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm, our Covington and Cincinnati medical malpractice attorneys are dedicated to helping victims who have suffered due to negligent medical care.
We are prepared to conduct a thorough investigation into your case, examining the specific facts surrounding the medication error by reviewing medical records, prescriptions, and the actions of healthcare providers and medical staff to determine where the negligence occurred.
Our medication overdose lawyers strive to hold the responsible parties accountable for their actions and secure the fair compensation you are entitled to for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, and more. Whether you’re facing a long recovery or mourning the loss of a loved one due to preventable medication errors, we are here to offer the legal support and advocacy you need to seek justice.
TLF proudly provides clients with free consultations, meaning you can speak to an experienced attorney on our team free of charge and with no obligation. To learn more about your legal options, we encourage you to give us a call as soon as possible.

Call TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm for a Free Consultation Today
Don’t let a medical mistake go unanswered – if you or a loved one has suffered due to receiving the wrong medication or wrong dosage and you suspect that medical malpractice may have been to blame, our award-winning attorneys at TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm are here to help. We understand the devastating impact of medical negligence, especially when it comes to overdoses, and are committed to fighting for maximum compensation for your injuries or the wrongful death of your loved one.
To explore your legal options with an experienced Kentucky or Ohio medication overdose lawyer on our team, simply call our toll-free number at (800) 698-4054 to arrange your free case evaluation today. You can also reach our Cincinnati office directly at (513) 651-4130, our Covington office at (859) 578-9130, or contact us via our online intake form.
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We are happy to offer a free consultation to evaluate your case. If you hire us as your legal counsel, we will represent you on a contingency-fee basis. You will pay no attorneys’ fees unless we recover financial damages.