Misdiagnosis · Surgical errors · Objects left in the body at the time of surgery · Infections contracted in the hospital · Incorrect medications · Childbirth complications. Sometimes a doctor or hospital makes mistakes that lead to future medical problems. While some of these may seem incredible, they happen more often than expected. Errors during surgery and misdiagnoses are the basis for most medical malpractice lawsuits.
An incorrect diagnosis or the absence of one is known as a misdiagnosis. This may cause you to take dangerous medications or to be unable to treat an illness or injury. A misdiagnosis can worsen your health and make you have to pay medical bills and other damages. A Texas medical malpractice lawyer can help determine if your medical condition was caused by an incorrect diagnosis or if it worsened because of it.
Patients who contract an infection while undergoing treatment are a major cause of medical malpractice lawsuits in Texas. These “hospital-acquired infections” (HAIs) can severely hamper your recovery. New infections may be the result of surgical errors or other irresponsible acts. Poor clinical judgment is a factor in approximately 60% of malpractice lawsuits, says Ruoff.
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. According to Schaffer, practicing “defensive” medicine and ordering diagnostic tests solely to protect against malpractice lawsuits is not a good substitute for clinical judgment.
Document the diagnostic process. A fundamental reason why patients request too many visits to emergency services is the possibility of being seen by a doctor without a referral from the family doctor or if they do not have health insurance. This study made it possible to analyze the data collected during 14 years of activity of the Commissions on monitoring and professional competence in cases of malpractice in the Romanian region of Moldova. Considering the number of people involved in surgery, it's no surprise that surgical errors give rise to medical malpractice lawsuits.
Some examples of incorrect medications that lead to medical malpractice lawsuits may include the wrong prescription or the supply of medications that include allergens. The first step in preventing medical malpractice accidents is to understand what is considered malpractice. To reduce the negative impact of the judicial process for resolving malpractice complaints on doctors and patients, an extrajudicial procedure (e.g., if you want to sue your doctor for malpractice, you have to prove that he has done you harm that another doctor in the same situation would not have done).A common question from doctors is how to respond when an adverse event occurs and the patient is upset by the care provided, Schaffer says. More specifically, lack of diagnosis was more likely to be a reason for complaint in male patients (9.9%) than in female patients (0.0%).
A medical malpractice claim is considered when the doctor's action or decision during treatment causes harm to you and does not conform to treatment standards. In this way, the authors identified 15 categories related to aspects of the medical act itself or to the relationship between the doctor and the patient, and jointly decided to include each reason in one of the established categories. An experienced medical malpractice attorney in Texas can advise you on your legal options if you are a victim of a medical crime. Therefore, current medical practice risks being dominated by fear of potential negligence complaints and their consequences for medical personnel.
The surgery can go wrong for several reasons, such as inadequate anesthesia, which can cause the patient to wake up in the middle of the procedure, not sterilizing the instruments, or even operating an incorrect part of the body. In that case, it might be difficult to prove that the doctor's actions were the real reason the patient died.
