When medical professionals fail to follow standard practice, it can lead to serious patient harm. Fortunately, there are some preventive measures that can reduce the frequency of medical errors.
Regardless of these precautions, errors still occur. These errors can result in severe injuries and even death. Those who suffer from these injuries can file malpractice lawsuits against the doctor or health care provider who caused their suffering.
Prescription Drug Mistakes
Prescription drug errors occur when doctors prescribe or dispense the wrong medication to patients, or when nurses administer the wrong medications in hospital settings. These mistakes can lead to serious side effects, including death.
Doctors and pharmacists are often liable for prescription drug mistakes, but other health care providers can also be held liable if they fail to comply with medical standards of care designed to prevent prescription drug errors from occurring. Examples of these medical standards include checking a patient’s history for allergies and potential drug interactions, reviewing a list of all drugs the patient is taking, and performing drug-interaction counseling and testing before prescribing a new medication.
One of the most common types of medication errors is when a doctor prescribes the wrong medication to a patient, which may occur because the doctor doesn’t check for allergies or other possible drug interactions that could cause dangerous side effects. Another common type of medication error is when a doctor prescribes the wrong dose of a medication, which can result in overdoses that can be fatal.
If you have suffered a serious injury or illness as a result of a prescription medication error, you should contact an experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney right away to discuss your case. You can file a claim against the physician, nurse or pharmacy that caused the error, and you can recover compensation for your injuries.
In order to win a medical malpractice case, it must be shown that a medical professional’s negligence directly caused your injury. This is a difficult and complex task, so you should consult an experienced medical malpractice lawyer who will help you prove that the doctor’s negligence was responsible for your injury or death.
The most important factor to consider when determining if a medication error was the cause of your injury is whether the doctor acted negligently in providing you with the medication you needed. Negative side effects from an over-the-counter medication could be normal, but if they are something the doctor warned you of in advance, then you should consult an attorney to learn more about your legal rights.
Surgical Errors
Surgical mistakes are one of the most common forms of medical malpractice. These errors can lead to serious harm and even death for patients. They can also result in a wide range of physical injuries that require lifelong care and treatment.
Fortunately, many surgical errors are preventable and could have been prevented by surgeons, nurses, and other medical professionals. However, these mistakes are often caused by a lack of attention to detail, insufficient preparation, and other forms of negligence.
Surgeons should take the time to carefully plan out procedures and review the potential complications that may arise during surgery. They should also make sure to communicate with their patients about what will happen and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
A common mistake that can occur during a surgery is operating on the wrong patient or part of their body. This error is also referred to as “wrong-site surgery.” Wrong-site surgeries happen anywhere from 1,300 to 2,700 times a year.
Other causes of surgical errors include failure to properly plan the surgery, failing to communicate with the surgical team about the patient’s case, and miscommunication between the medical professionals involved in the procedure. These mistakes can be devastating to the patient and their family, so it is important for physicians and other medical professionals to take the necessary precautions to prevent them from occurring.
Despite these efforts, surgical mistakes still occur at a high rate. When a surgical mistake occurs, it is important for the injured patient to consult with a San Antonio surgical error attorney as soon as possible.
The patient’s legal team will need to show that the surgeon did not adhere to the standard of care in the industry, and their negligence approximately caused injury or damage. They will also need to prove that their pain and suffering was a direct result of the surgical error.
If you or a loved one has suffered a severe injury as a result of a surgical error, contact the experienced team at Maloney Law Group, P.L.L.C. Our medical malpractice attorneys have extensive experience handling cases of wrong-site surgery and other surgical mistakes in Texas. Our goal is to help you receive the compensation you deserve for your damages.
Failure to Treat
Medical professionals have a responsibility to ensure that their patients get the treatment they need for an illness or injury. This includes diagnosing the condition, prescribing medications, and following up on treatment to make sure that the patient is progressing well. If a doctor or healthcare professional fails to treat a patient properly, it can result in injuries and even death.
If you’ve been injured due to a doctor’s failure to treat you, you may have a case for medical malpractice. In these cases, it’s important to seek legal help as soon as possible so that you can recover compensation for your damages.
One of the most common reasons why doctors and other healthcare professionals fail to treat patients is failure to diagnose a disease, illness or condition. This can be very frustrating for patients who have been suffering from the consequences of a condition that could have been treated if it had been diagnosed sooner.
For example, if a doctor performs a physical exam and misses the signs of cancer, the cancer can spread throughout the body without treatment. This can be extremely devastating, especially since the disease is highly treatable if diagnosed in a timely manner.
Additionally, if the patient goes to the emergency room with chest pain and a physician does not correctly diagnose a heart attack or stroke, it can lead to a permanent injury or death. These cases are particularly complex because proving that the physician failed to uphold the standard of care requires a thorough knowledge of the medical issues involved and an in-depth understanding of the law.
If you or a loved one have been harmed by a healthcare professional’s failure to diagnose your condition, reach out to Sokolove Law today for a free consultation. Our attorneys have decades of experience handling these types of cases and have helped thousands of victims receive financial compensation.
Informed Consent
Medical professionals need to get informed consent from every patient before they provide a medical procedure or treatment. Informed consent is a legal right that protects every medical patient and their families from being harmed because of a doctor’s or healthcare provider’s negligence or misdiagnosis.
Informed consent is when a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional explains the benefits, risks, and alternatives to a patient before they agree to receive a treatment. It is a process that may theoretically reduce errors, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient empowerment.
When a patient’s doctor fails to obtain informed consent before a procedure, surgery, or medication, they can be held liable for medical malpractice. Injuries and other complications that result from a doctor’s neglect can have a serious impact on a patient’s life.
Although medical professionals do their best to ensure that patients are aware of all potential complications, some procedures and surgeries can cause serious complications. These complications can lead to new injuries or illnesses, which can make a patient’s life even more difficult than it already is.
The most common risk associated with medical procedures is blood transfusions. These can cause complications like HIV, hepatitis, and Ebola. In fact, a recent study found that blood transfusions are the most common cause of death and disability in hospitals across the country.
Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to provide informed consent in an efficient and timely manner. A doctor’s busy schedule can often keep them from explaining everything about a treatment or procedure that might be important to the patient’s health and well-being.
This can be especially true if the procedure or surgery is complex, complicated, or has high risk factors. For example, if the patient is suffering from advanced lung disease and has to be pumped with oxygen before surgery, it may not be possible for a doctor to explain all of the potential complications associated with the procedure.
In addition to explaining all of the risks and alternatives to a medical treatment or procedure, physicians should also take time to talk about their own experience with that procedure or therapy. This can help the patient understand if their own experiences with similar treatments or surgeries have led to positive results and less risk of complications. It can also help the patient decide if they want to have a particular procedure or surgery done.
