Shocking Medical Errors That Can Lead to Malpractice
It may seem naïve to think that a trip to the hospital or doctor's office will always end well. Too often, medical mistakes occur and harm patients.
The following are some of the most shocking medical errors that are made in West Virginia and across the country - as well as what you can do if you believe that you are a victim of medical malpractice.
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Operating on the Wrong Body Part/Site
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Operating on the wrong body part or wrong site is incredibly common. Appropriately dubbed a "never event" - meaning that this error is one that should never happen - wrong-site surgeries happen more than you would like to think. According to Medscape ,which cites data provided by the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, wrong-site surgeries occur more than 40 times a week nationwide.
A wrong-site surgery can be devastating for the patient. Consider a situation in which the incorrect limb of a patient is amputated or the incorrect kidney is removed. Both of these situations can result in long-term impairment for the patient and loss of quality of life. The latter could even result in death.
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Making Serious Medication Errors
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Unfortunately, medication errors can be much more serious than a minor mishap that causes minimal amounts of harm. Sometimes, medication errors can be deadly.
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies reports that medication errors injure 1.5 million people annually and cost billions of dollars. The additional costs associated with correcting medication errors in hospitals alone is estimated to cost at least 3.5 billion. As reported to the Medication Error Reporting Program, 25 percent of all errors are caused over confusion of drugs of similar names.
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Failing to Correctly Diagnose a Condition
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Failing to correctly diagnose a condition, simply referred to as misdiagnosis, is one of the most shocking medical errors and may be the basis for bring a medical malpractice claim.
The National Center for Policy Analysis reports that 10 to 20 percent of cases are misdiagnosed. Further, the National Center for Policy Analysis cites one study that found that 28 percent of 583 diagnostic mistakes were either life-threatening or had caused permanent disability or death.
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Leaving a Foreign Object within a Patient
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Can you imagine seeking surgery only to learn after it was completed that the surgeon and operating room team had left a surgical object within your body? For many patients, this is a reality. Often, patients do not discover this error has occurred until months later, when serious complications occur.
Pinpointing the exact number of surgical events where a foreign object such as a sponge or towel is left within a patient is hard to do. According to the journal, Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare, adequate information is not available in regards how frequently this occurs. However, it is estimated that leaving a foreign object within a patient is anywhere between one out of every 1,000 surgeries and one out of every 19,000 surgeries.
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Causing Trauma/Injury to a Baby During Birth
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For a parent, there is more horrifying to imagine than an injury to one's child. When proper care is not taken during the labor and delivery process, however, this is exactly what can happen.
Birth Trauma, published in Medscape, estimates that the rate of birth trauma in the U.S. is approximately two percent of all live births. The use of instruments during delivery, including forceps and vacuum extractors, increases the risk of injury.
A birth injury caused by a negligent physician such as one who fails to properly monitor the mother and baby, fails to take action when an emergency C-section is necessary or exerts too much force and pressure on a baby during delivery can cause a variety of injuries. Some of these injuries can lead to a condition such as cerebral palsy and have a lasting impact on the child's life and his or her family.
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Hospital-Acquired Infections
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Hospital-acquired infections, or healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), are prevalent in West Virginia and across the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that one study conducted in 2011 found that, on any given day, one in 25 patients suffers at least one HAI. Further, at the time that the study was conducted, on average, 722,000 HAIs were contracted in U.S. acute care hospitals in the U.S. per year. About 75,000 hospital patients who were suffering from HAIs died during their hospitalization. HAIs commonly are spread by lack of sanitization amongst healthcare workers.
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Improperly Caring for Nursing Home Residents
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For too many elderly adults living in nursing homes, errors occur that put the patient at risk of suffering serious health problems and, possibly, death.
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- Failure to feed a patient, leading to dangerous weight loss and other complications
- Failure to properly monitor a patient, leading to a patient falling or wandering
- Medication errors, leading to strokes or other serious problems
- Failure to administer help with bathing
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Nursing home abuse and neglect simply occurs at an alarming rate in Charleston and throughout West Virginia.
Reach Out to Our Experienced Charleston Medical Malpractice Attorneys
The seven shocking medical errors listed above are horrible. However, the list is not exhaustive.
If you are a victim of any of the above errors or other acts of medical negligence in Charleston, reach out to our skilled West Virginia medical malpractice lawyers today.
At Mani Ellis & Layne, PLLC, we understand how an act of medical malpractice can affect your life. We want to help you to pursue the compensation that you deserve by conducting a thorough investigation, filing a claim on your behalf, negotiating for a fair settlement amount and taking your claim to court, if necessary.
To schedule your free medical malpractice case consultation and learn about how our attorneys can help you contact us today by phone or through online form.