Poor clinical judgment is a factor in approximately 60% of malpractice lawsuits, Ruoff says. Inadequate patient evaluation is the most common mistake in this category. In the outpatient setting, errors often involve an inadequate anamnesis or the failure to perform an adequate physical examination. In the hospital environment, the most common errors are inadequate patient monitoring, lack of rescue or premature discharge.
“Practicing “defensive” medicine and ordering diagnostic tests solely to protect against malpractice lawsuits is a poor substitute for exercising clinical judgment, Schaffer says. Document the diagnostic process. One of the most common reasons for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is diagnostic errors, such as misdiagnosis and late diagnosis. For example, delays in diagnosing certain types of cancer may allow the malignancy to progress and become more difficult.
to contain. Negligence claims should be handled by experienced attorneys who also understand medicine and can evaluate whether a medical error rises to the level of negligence. When it comes to your health, the last thing you want to worry about is not being able to trust your doctor. Even if you do everything right, such as following a healthy diet and exercising every day, you'll need medical help from time to time.
To do this, you rely on your doctor to diagnose and treat certain conditions, address certain health risks, and even help you with preventive medicine. However, doctors aren't perfect, and sometimes they're even negligent and engage (knowingly or not) in medical malpractice. Below are the 7 main causes of medical malpractice. But why does medical malpractice happen? Understanding the reasons for medical malpractice begins with knowing what it is about in the first place. In Texas, medical malpractice involves any act or omission by a health professional while treating a patient that deviates from the accepted standard of care and causes an injury (see subchapter A of chapter 74 of the Texas CPRC Code).).
A hospital or other medical facility may also be at fault. Surgical errors can occur at different times in your care. In addition to only during the actual surgery, errors may be made in preoperative or postoperative care. As a result of surgical errors, the patient may need to undergo more surgeries or treatments, increasing the risk.
Medication can have profound effects on a patient and, when that medication is improperly administered, malpractice can occur. These medication errors can occur while you are hospitalized or after being discharged with the wrong prescription. Injuries during childbirth can lead to brain injuries, developmental problems, various infections, and other complications, such as cerebral palsy and paralysis. The increased risk of certain medical specialties filing malpractice lawsuits is mainly due to the peculiarities of the medical services provided and the treated patients.
As medical procedures become more complex, the associated risks increase in a directly proportional manner. In this way, the authors identified 15 categories related to aspects of the medical act itself or to the doctor-patient relationship and decided together to include each reason in one of the established categories. We analyzed 153 complaints against 205 medical professionals (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and dentists). The most frequently reported medical specialties were obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, general surgery and orthopedics and traumatology.
Defensive medicine involves asking for more medical tests, more medical opinions, prescribing more medications, more referrals to specialized tests, refusing to perform certain high-risk procedures, or even refusing to help patients with serious illnesses. In short, the type of insurance your healthcare provider has can affect your medical malpractice case. If you or a loved one experienced trauma, disability, or other unforeseen serious harm while receiving medical care, you need to have a trained doctor and lawyer who can evaluate your options under the law. The authors analyzed 153 complaints directed against 205 medical professionals and identified 15 categories of reasons for complaints, the most important of which were those related to the occurrence of complications and to the interaction between the doctor and the patient (p.
Complaints are analyzed with the support of medical experts in the target medical specialty to determine whether or not patients have suffered as a result of malpractice. The working procedure of these commissions establishes that patients who consider themselves injured as a result of the medical act, or their family members (in the case of deceased or incompetent patients), can submit complaints accompanied by documents certifying the damage. The medical specialties in which most complaints were found were: obstetrics and gynecology, with 24 (15.7%) claims against 29 doctors (14.14%), (emergency medicine), with 18 (11.8%) lawsuits against 20 doctors (9.75%), general surgery with 16 (10.5%) lawsuits against 20 doctors (9.75%) and (orthopedics and traumatology) with 12 (7.8%) claims involving 19 doctors (9.26%).). Delay as a reason for a medical malpractice claim in emergency medicine is again associated with the overuse of emergency services, where the waiting time for medical care is inversely proportional to the severity of the emergency.
