Medical negligence occurs when a doctor fails to provide a patient with the necessary care level, resulting in injury or death. Due to a doctor’s incompetence or bad practice, medical malpractice frequently leads to unneeded problems or medical conditions for the victim.
You may be eligible for financial compensation if you have experienced medical misconduct. You must see a skilled malpractice attorney for legal advice in that situation.
Here are some mistakes that can lead to medical malpractice claims:
Diagnostic Errors
According to CBS News, misdiagnosis affects about 12 million outpatient care patients annually. Because the symptoms of various illnesses are similar and it can be challenging to recognize less prevalent symptoms effectively, misdiagnosis is a frequent mistake.
A patient’s therapy depends on a precise diagnosis. A physician can develop an efficient treatment strategy with an accurate diagnosis. Patients who obtain an incorrect diagnosis or none at all will not receive the proper care, which could lead to serious physical injury or even death.
Surgical Errors
Surgical blunders and mishaps are frequently a result of inadequate preoperative preparation. But they can also happen when a doctor uses drugs or alcohol while on the job. Surgical complications, damage, infection, or even death are all possible outcomes of these mistakes.
The following are examples of surgical errors:
- performing the incorrect procedure,
- operating on the wrong body part,
- operating on the wrong patient,
- making an incision in the incorrect place,
- prescribing incorrect medication or dosage after surgery,
- and failing to explain post-operative procedures.
Medication Errors
Each year, medication errors cause harm to tens of thousands of Americans. Medication errors can happen at any process stage, from the first prescription to drug administration. For instance, the patient can be harmed if a doctor gives them the incorrect medication or one intended to address an illness that wasn’t there.
Experienced medical malpractice lawyers in Louisville, Kentucky have seen the most frequent prescription mistakes to be dosage errors, in which a patient is given an incorrect amount of a drug. Dosage errors may occur when:
- The prescription may be correct, but the nurse gave the wrong dosage,
- The doctor wrote the wrong dosage on the medication.
- When a defibrillator’s battery dies or a valve on an intravenous pump becomes dislodged, the device that distributes the medication malfunctions and delivers a considerable amount of medication quickly, or vice versa.
Birth Injuries
Medical mistakes during labor can cause brain damage, paralysis, bone fractures, and cerebral palsy. Other similar birth-related complications include misusing suction or forceps, overlooking an umbilical cord wrapped around the neck, forgoing a C-section when necessary, and failing to react to a drop in the fetus’s vital signs. When congenital impairments and diseases connected to pregnancy are incorrectly diagnosed, more medical mistakes can happen throughout the prenatal phases.
Anesthesia Errors
Surgery mistakes are riskier than anesthesia blunders, which run the risk of causing lasting harm, brain damage, or even death. Before giving a patient anesthesia, anesthesiologists may be negligent if they don’t look into their medical history or don’t warn them about the hazards. Giving too much of an aesthetic, neglecting to check vital signs, intubating patients incorrectly, or utilizing subpar equipment are all mistakes that can occur during surgery.
The Bottom Line
Medical malpractice can have serious, even life-altering, implications. However, you must receive compensation for the losses you have incurred. In addition to assisting you in receiving the appropriate compensation for your suffering, pain, expenses incurred due to your injuries, and lost wages, a personal injury lawyer may help you acquire the evidence required to support your claim.