When you show up for a doctor’s appointment or go to the hospital, you trust that the medical professionals overseeing your care will make appropriate and educated decisions about how they diagnose and treat you.
Unfortunately, medical malpractice remains a serious issue in the United States that affects hundreds of thousands of people every year. What are some of the more common forms of medical malpractice that people experience?
Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose
You rely on your doctor to make sense of your laundry list of symptoms and help you figure out the true, underlying cause of them. Diagnostic mistakes can lead to several issues for patients. They may have to undergo treatment that they don’t require, which could do significant harm. They might also inadvertently delay the treatment they truly need, allowing their condition to get worse.
Medication errors
Medication mistakes can happen in many different ways. A pharmacist could give someone the right medication but the wrong dosage. A technician could mix the wrong drug into an intravenous solution. A nurse at a hospital could make mistakes regarding who she hands pills to or the timing of that drug administration. Medication errors can lead to overdoses, dangerous drug interactions and treatment failures.
Surgical mistakes
Surgical errors can range from problems with anesthesia to operating on the wrong part of the body. Serious surgical mistakes often have extensive consequences for patients. They may have to undergo corrective procedures and suffer severe damage as a result of the error.
Being able to identify common forms of medical malpractice will help you take action if a doctor makes a mistake that hurts you or someone you love.