People visit their doctors to get expert care for illnesses and injuries. When doctors don't live up to that standard, the law offers a way for patients to be compensated for unnecessary pain, medical expenses, income loss, and decreased quality of life.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of any of these 5 common forms of medical malpractice, you may want to consider pursuing legal action.
Misdiagnosis
Patients negatively affected by an incorrect diagnosis are victims of one of the most common types of medical malpractice. A single misdiagnosis can lead to improper or delayed treatment, or even no treatment. An undiagnosed condition could worsen or lead to a new condition developing.
To pursue a case, there must be proof that the doctor "failed to live up to the standard of care in diagnosing the patient's condition," which then resulted in an injury, according to Justia.
Medication error
Most people take medicine at some point and tend to trust that their doctors have made sure it won't interact with other medications they're taking or cause problems because of another known health concern they have.
However, medication errors hurt as many as 1.3 million people every year in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
"Both health workers and patients can make mistakes that result in severe harm, such as ordering, prescribing, dispensing, preparing, administering or consuming the wrong medication or the wrong dose at the wrong time," according to WHO. "But all medication errors are potentially avoidable."
This error usually happens when a patient's care involves multiple health providers or when there is a breakdown in communication.
Surgical error
Surgical errors are nightmare errors that rarely happen—often falling into categories known as wrong-site, wrong-procedure, wrong patient errors.
Patients may wake from surgery to find the incorrect side of an organ was removed, a spinal surgery occurred at the wrong level, or they received a procedure meant for someone else, possibly with a similar name. The Patient Safety Network says communication errors are a major factor and that they "should never occur and indicate serious underlying safety problems."
Birth injury
One of the most heartbreaking forms of medical malpractice involves newborns and their mothers. Birth injury can happen because of complications connected to pregnancy, labor, delivery or after birth.
These are the most common injuries to mothers, according to Thomas J. Henry Law:
- Abnormal uterine bleeding
- Fissures
- Infection
- Preeclampsia or eclampsia
- Vaginal tears or lacerations
- Mental injuries (e.g. depression, post-traumatic stress disorder)
- Death
Children who suffer birth injuries commonly develop these issues:
- Cerebral palsy and Erb's palsy
- Nerve damage
- Skull damage
- Brain damage
- Future learning disabilities
- Delayed early development
The causes of injuries vary and may not be immediately obvious. Anything unusual in a child or mother should be brought up with a healthcare provider as soon as it becomes apparent.
Anesthesia error
While anesthesia is safer today than even a decade ago, errors still occur, including overdoses, incorrect infusion rates, substitution errors, omission errors and clerical errors.
A survey published by the National Institutes of Health found that major risk factors include inadequate experience, inadequate familiarity to equipment, poor communication with the surgical team, fatigue, lack of training, haste and inattention, or carelessness during administration of anesthesia.
Victims of anesthesia error could experience respiratory distress, seizures, mental or physical impairment, brain injuries or even death.
For more information about what is considered medical malpractice or to meet with a malpractice lawyer about your situation, call or visit Thomas J. Henry, the largest personal injury firm in Texas.
