- October 29, 2018
When you visit the hospital, you expect proper care and treatment, not major medical mistakes that could cost you your life. Unfortunately, hospital mistakes happen on a regular basis and can result in serious illnesses, wounds, or even death. Hospitals are usually extremely busy environments, and despite medical regulations and standard protocol, mistakes do happen. Whether the nurse mixes up your medical charts or the doctor makes an incorrect diagnosis, you could find yourself dealing with a complex issue because of the errors or negligence of the hospital.In order to protect yourself from hospital mistreatment, or to discover whether you have a medical malpractice case, make sure you know what types of mistakes occur in hospitals.
Some of the most common types of hospital mistakes include:
1. Improper Diagnosis
If a doctor makes an incorrect diagnosis because he or she failed to recognize all of a patient’s symptoms, the patient could be treated for the wrong ailment. While the patient receives treatment for the incorrect injury or illness, it could result in a delay in the proper treatment, which could be damaging and extremely dangerous. Also, if a doctor delays diagnosis or fails to make a diagnosis, it could cause an unsafe delay in treatment.
2. Medication Errors
Prescribing and administering drugs is a hefty responsibility, and if a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or other medical professional makes an error, the results could be extremely harmful. Doctors might fail to notice signs of addiction and could overprescribe opioids, leading patients down a dangerous path to addiction. Or, pharmacists might provide patients with the wrong medication, nurses could administer incorrect dosages, and so on.
3. Surgical Mistakes
Although surgical mistakes are somewhat rare, they can be extremely damaging when they occur. Doctors aren’t expected to be perfect, but they are expected to perform at least as well as another, equally qualified, doctor would in their shoes. A negligent or carless doctor might harm a nearby organ by accident, leave an instrument in the body after surgery, or miss crucial steps in an operation. Alternatively, the hospital may make a mistake, causing someone to undergo the wrong operation or a surgery on the wrong area of the body. In some cases, the mistake might have to do with improperly cleaned surgical tools.
4. Failure to Respond
In emergency situations, patients often require quick, immediate medical care in order to survive. If a doctor fails to administer care in a timely manner, or if they respond incorrectly, the patient could suffer more harm than necessary, or their injuries could be fatal.
5. Anesthesia Errors
Some of the most common types of medical errors have to do with anesthesia mistakes. Anesthesia is used to keep patients asleep during an operation, but if it is administered incorrectly, it could cause any number of problems. If a patient is allergic to the medication, he or she could suffer a serious reaction, which could be worsened if the anesthesiologist fails to respond quickly by discontinuing the anesthesia. Also, if the patient receives too little, they could wake up during surgery, or they could feel the surgery even though they appear asleep. Too much anesthesia, on the other hand, could cause serious brain damage or could be fatal.
If you or someone you love was harmed in a hospital due to the negligence or errors of others, make sure you take immediate action to fight for justice and compensation. Our experienced medical malpractice attorneys can work with you to determine who is liable for your accident. We know how traumatizing hospital errors can be, which is why we want to support you as you recover and take action against the guilty party.
Contact Goodman Acker P.C. today to get started on your Detroit personal injury case.