Sadly, 60,000 young children are rushed to the emergency room every single year because of medication poisonings. According to the National Safety Council unintentional poisonings are a common issue in American homes. Also, many children may think that a medication is a candy and may unintentionally overdose before they start to suffer the symptoms of the mistake. The most common poisonings happen with prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Children and adults can also be poisoned by consuming cleaning products and by swallowing personal care products. About 80 percent of all household poisonings involve a child.
Many children will swallow medications while an adult isn’t watching. They may overdose because they enjoy the taste of the medicine, believe that the pills are candy, or want to hide the evidence from a mom or dad. Children typically find these dangerous medications on a countertop, in a purse, or on the floor. When a little body takes in so much strong medications, the results can be devastating. In 2008 alone, poison control centers reported that they received about 2.5 million human poison exposure cases. In a lot of cases, a negligent caretaker is to blame. If you have children, then you need to protect them from the products that could cause their illness or death.
If you are taking medication, make sure to store it in a high cupboard far out of your child’s reach. You should also place all vitamins from a child’s reach or lie of sight. You need to put all pills away in the cupboard that you designate every time that you use them. It may also be wise to install a child lock on this cupboard in order to further guarantee that your children cannot open up the cupboard and explore or experiment with the contents inside. You should never leave medicine on a countertop, even if it is a prescription that your child is taking. Never rely on a child to take his or her own medication or give your child a prescription with instructions. This can be detrimental to their health if they choose to take more than the prescribed dosage or take the medicine before waiting the proper amount of hours. If your child will need to take medication at school, make sure that the prescription is given to a school nurse or teacher who can administer the medication and oversee your child.
It is important for parents and caretakers to explain what medicine is to their children and why the young ones must take a particular pull or chewable. Parents should never tell their kids that medicine is candy. This can lead to a dangerous association that may lead to an overdose in the future. Whenever you take a medication, make sure to seal the container afterwards until you hear the child lock click. This will ensure that the cap won’t come off of the medicine, causing the dangerous pills to spill onto the floor. It may be wise for you to buy a coat and purse rack so that when house guests come over you can hang their purses and coats high up away from children. That way, if guests have medication in their purse, it will not be accessible for curious toddlers. The National Safety Council suggests that all parents have the poison control number nearby and saved on a cell phone. This number is 1-800-222-1222.
There are other ways that you can prevent a medication overdose. While many medication dangers happen when a child takes a medicine without supervision, there are times that a confused parent or caretaker may overdose a child. You can prevent this from happening by reading all of the information on any medicine package labels and following all the directions. Do not give a child medicine in greater amounts then stated on the package, no matter what the circumstances are. If you need a stronger medication, then you need to take your child to a pediatrician ask for a stronger dosage.
Check to see what the active ingredient in the medication is. Make sure that you do not give your child two medications with the same active ingredient, as this can often lead to an overdose. As well, you should only use the measuring device that comes with the product that you are using. For example, if the medication comes with a dropper, do not use a tablespoon instead. This can lead to dangerous or fatal mis-measurements. If your medication doesn’t come with a measuring device, then ask a pharmacist what she or he suggests. Whenever you are confused regarding your child’s medication or your own medicine, call a pharmacist or doctor. Never guess when it comes to strong medications.
In some cases, medicines may be mislabeled. This may be the pharmacy’s fault, and be a legitimate reason to sue for negligence. As well, if your doctor prescribes an overdose that proves to be damaging, you may have the right to sue for
medical malpractice. Often overdose incidents happen in nursing homes where the caretakers want to silence their patients so they give them too much medication. This is considered nursing home abuse and is a viable reason to sue. You can also sue if a caretaker was not watching your child and this lack of supervision caused an overdose or a poisoning. If you have been involved in a poisoning incident, you may also be able to pursue a toxic tort. Talk to a Miami personal injury attorney at the
Mesa Law Firm today to get more information!