A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care that you suffer at the hands of a healthcare professional or related employees which causes you harm. There are many types of medical errors, some of which include:
Diagnostic Mistakes
Medication Errors
Laboratory Errors
Surgical Errors
Anesthesia Errors
Delays In Treatment
The same researchers who conducted the John’s Hopkins study reveal that medical errors aren’t simply due to inherently bad doctors. Instead, researchers say that most errors are representative of problems within the healthcare system including uncoordinated care, fragmented insurance networks, the absence of protocols, and variation in doctor practice patterns that lack accountability.
What Causes Medical Errors?
There are many causes of medical errors, but the most prevalent and reoccurring ones include:
Communication Problems: Whether verbal or written, communication breakdowns are the most frequent cause of medical errors
Inadequate Information Flow: When necessary information about you is not transferred with you between facilities, specialties, or wards
Human Factors: As with all human beings, healthcare professionals can make mistakes, and which are generally prone to happen when they are fatigued or under a lot of stress
Patient-Related Issues: If your doctor does not correctly educate you on your diagnosis, medication, or future management, then you may make a decision that would not necessarily have made if you’d had all the information available to you at the time
Organizational Transfer of Knowledge: New employees who aren’t trained appropriately and properly educated on the relevant protocols and procedures are more likely to make medical errors
Staffing Patterns and Workflow: If there is understaffing and an overwhelming workload then healthcare professionals are more likely to miscommunicate and make medical error mistakes
Technical Failures: Technical equipment is critical within the healthcare industry for both assessment and treatment purposes. This means that technical failures can very easily lead to complications and both diagnostic and treatment medical errors
Inadequate Policies: Poor documentation and inadequate procedures lead to miscommunication and mismanagement which can be the foundation for medical errors
Legal Matters
Medical malpractice lawsuits generally occur so that you may gain legal consideration for:
Compensation
Accountability
Retribution
If you are seeking legal consideration for a medical error, then it is best to consult with a medical malpractice lawyer who is well-versed in the laws specific to your state.
Your medical malpractice lawyer will be able to guide you through the basic steps of bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit forward. These steps include:
Contacting the medical professional involved to find out what went wrong and if the problem can be remediated
Contacting the appropriate medical licensing board if your doctor does not offer you the help that you require
Finding out the Statute of Limitations so that you know how long you have to file a medical malpractice claim
Getting a certificate of merit to determine that your injuries were caused by an error on the part of the medical professional
Discussing the possibility of settling out of court because medical malpractice cases are complex and can take a lot of time and money
Contact
If you believe that you or a family member may have been a victim of a medical error, please contact the medical malpractice lawyers of Rosenburg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff LLP in NYC today and speak to one of our medical malpractice attorneys.
When you are ready to talk, we are ready to listen. Call 212-344-1000 for a free, confidential consultation.
