Drug Errors: How Mistakes Happen and How to Stop Them

When you take a pill, you expect it to help—not hurt. But drug errors, mistakes in prescribing, dispensing, or taking medication that can lead to serious harm or death. Also known as medication errors, they’re one of the leading causes of preventable harm in healthcare. These aren’t rare blips. Studies show that over 7,000 people die each year in the U.S. alone from drug errors. And most of these aren’t caused by reckless doctors or careless pharmacists—they happen because systems are broken, not because people are bad.

One of the biggest fixes? two patient identifiers, a simple rule that requires pharmacists to confirm a patient’s name and date of birth before handing out any drug. This isn’t just paperwork—it’s a life-saving check. Skip it, and you risk giving a diabetes drug to someone with heart failure. Or worse. And it’s not just pharmacies. Hospitals, nursing homes, even your own kitchen table can be places where drug errors slip through. That’s why prescription verification, the process of double-checking the drug name, dose, and instructions before taking it. Also known as medication reconciliation, it’s your last line of defense. If you don’t know the NDC number on your bottle, or you’ve never asked why you’re taking a pill, you’re playing Russian roulette with your health.

Some drugs are especially dangerous when mixed up. Phenytoin, for example, has a razor-thin window between helping seizures and causing toxicity. Switching generics without monitoring levels can land you in the ICU. And then there’s tramadol—commonly prescribed for pain, but it can trigger seizures in people with epilepsy. Even something as simple as taking vitamin D with statins might seem harmless, but research shows it doesn’t fix muscle pain, and people waste money chasing false hope. These aren’t edge cases. They’re patterns. And they’re all covered in the posts below.

You’ll find real checklists for verifying your own prescriptions, clear explanations of why two patient identifiers matter, and breakdowns of how common drugs like insulin, antifungals, and blood thinners can go wrong. You’ll learn what to ask your pharmacist, how to spot a dangerous interaction, and why generic drugs aren’t always interchangeable. No fluff. No jargon. Just what works—and what doesn’t. If you’ve ever worried you took the wrong pill, or seen someone else make a mistake, this collection is for you. The fixes are simple. But only if you know where to look.