Hospital Pharmacy Overdose of Opioid to Infant

An infant received and colorectal surgery in a hospital and became septic and severely ill from an intestinal leak after the surgery. This necessitated strong narcotics for pain, so Methadone was ordered and given to the infant intravenously. After days of the IV methadone, the child's pain and condition was better, so the Methadone order was changed to an equivalent oral amount. The hospital pharmacist involved with the computer change of the drug accidentally entered the wrong dose conversion or decimal point amount, leading to the infant receiving about 9 times more Methadone than the doctor had ordered. And nurses gave this amount on 5 separate occasions over the next 24 hours, so that the baby received about 45 times more Methadone than was ordered. Suit was filed through the parents on the child’s behalf, alleging negligence in failing to check, verify, and give the correct oral Methadone amounts, among other things, and that the overdoses were a cause of the infant's collapsed lung, breathing problems, and partial brain injury due to a lack of oxygen. Clore Law Group, LLC, along with Illinois co-counsel, obtained a confidential settlement on the family and child’s behalf.

• Practice Area
• Outcome
  Confidential Settlement