What are the Most Common Hospital Errors that Lead to Malpractice?

We go to the emergency room when we are seriously ill or injured. We don’t expect that these same doctors will actually cause us serious harm or death. Unfortunately, hospital errors are all too common. As many as 251,000 people die from medical malpractice every year – the third leading cause of death in American behind heart disease and cancer.
While doctors are human and make mistakes, the mistakes they make can be deadly. There are many errors that can lead to serious injuries, death and medical malpractice lawsuits. Read on to learn about the most common hospital errors.

Technical Errors

These often occur during surgery. The surgeon may accidentally puncture an organ or cut a major artery, causing internal bleeding or death. Another common situation involves leaving surgical tools inside a patient’s body.
While surgeries come with risks, doctors need to take extra precautions in situations where one wrong move could mean life or death. It may be helpful to seek assistance from other medical staff in complex situations.

Delay in Diagnosis or Treatment

While doctors cannot successfully diagnose or treat every ailment within minutes, it’s important that they administer the appropriate medical tests so they can find the cause of the pain. Some doctors are quick to give generic diagnoses simply by guessing—without running tests.
When a diagnosis is made, some doctors fail to begin treatment in a timely manner. They adopt a wait-and-see attitude. As a result, patients feel worse than before, end up in the emergency room again and often have to have immediate surgeries or even end up dying.

Inadequate Monitoring After Surgery

Surgeries are risky procedures, and it’s important for medical staff to monitor patients afterward to ensure that the anesthesia has worn off and the patient can breathe without assistance.
Patients often need medications afterward to reduce the risk of infection and their vital signs should be monitored frequently. If the patient becomes seriously ill or dies due to a lack of post-operative follow-up from medical staff, the hospital can be held liable.

Failure to Use Test Results

Some doctors order tests and then never look at the results. These results can mean the difference between life and death. If you know that you had tests done, you may need to be proactive and ask your doctor to give you the results.

Medication Errors

Nurses and other medical staff often treat dozens of patients in one day. A lack of organization can cause medication errors. A patient may receive the wrong dose of medication, or even the wrong drug altogether.
This can cause the patient to overdose and possibly die. The patient could also suffer a serious reaction to the medication if he or she has an allergy.

Let an Ohio Medical Malpractice Attorney Handle Your Claim

Medical malpractice can be caused by many factors and lead to various injuries. Unfortunately, this type of negligence is quite common. By filing a personal injury lawsuit, you can hold the negligent doctor liable so that this situation can be avoided in the future.
If you believe you are a victim of medical negligence, call the personal injury attorneys at Tittle & Perlmuter. We are committed to each client and will look out for your best interests. For a consultation, contact our law firm today at (216) 308-1522.