Poor Doctor Penmanship

Doctors are notorious for scribbling quick notes and directions to nurses, pharmacies, and their patients. Jotting down a quick note isn’t the problem so much that the quick scribbling is frequently not particularly legible. When directions and prescriptions are not legible, the chances of a pharmacy or hospital error go up quickly.

A distinct example of sloppy handwriting that resulted in death occurred in 1999. In 1999, a cardiologist issued a prescription for a drug designed to eliminate the chest pains that lead to or cause heart attacks. The man was supposed to take the chest pain drug once every six hours. Unfortunately, because the doctor’s handwriting was so poor, the pharmacy filled a different prescription that had a completely different purpose. As a result, the man did experience chest pains, had a heart attack, and later died.

The man’s family in this case managed to sue the doctor successfully for his poor handwriting and illegible prescription writing. This case was not the first time that poor handwriting had made the news. The first recorded instance of complaints regarding poor handwriting in doctors came from none other than Mark Twain in 1864.

In his letter to the newspaper in San Francisco, Twain deplored the poor handwriting and encouraged doctors to write as though they had attended school at some point. His was not an esthetic concern so much as a concern that the poor handwriting would lead to mistakes and errors.

Overall, doctors’ handwriting plays a huge role in a person receiving accurate prescriptions and necessary care from a hospital.

Contact a Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you have been injured because of a doctor’s poor handwriting, contact a Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 610-667-7511 to secure the representation you need.