One of the foundations of hospital care is medication.
Medication helps sick people get better by controlling their symptoms and telling their bodies to act in certain ways.
Often, hospitals have access to drugs so powerful that they are not even available by prescription.
Some of these medications are only helpful in moderation.
That is, individuals who ingest more than the intended amount of a particular drug may actually suffer harm as a result of taking those drugs.
As such, doctors and other hospital staff must be careful not to overdose their patients.
Unfortunately, not all hospital staff members are as careful as they should be when prescribing and providing their patients with medication.
When an individual suffers an overdose in a hospital, the effects may be worse than suffering an overdose while at home.
This, again, goes back to the strength of the medications potentially involved.
Individuals who suffer overdoses in hospitals may suffer from drug poisoning, which may lead to a number of other ailments.
Most commonly, individuals suffer cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
This may include increased or decreased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing.
These effects may cause an individual to suffer from a number of related medical conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, or even suffocation.
In some cases, individuals may even pass away from their injuries.
Victims of hospital overdoses may be entitled to financial compensation from the responsible hospital or medical professional.
Typically, the individual will need to target the specific hospital staffer who committed the action, but the hospital usually settles the case rather than the staff member.
Individuals should seek an experienced medical malpractice lawyer when pursuing financial compensation for an overdose in a hospital.
Having a lawyer may increase an individual's likelihood of winning a case.