The Four Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice

The four most common types of medical malpractice

Each year, approximately 200 000 patients die from medical malpractice or negligence avoided hospital.  Society of Actuaries estimated that medical errors cost the U.S. economy at least $ 20 billion annually in lost productivity, additional medical treatment and disability.  Many patients and their families who suffered because of medical negligence never recover their losses, because in their case histories are often incomplete, inaccurate or false.  Other reasons why patients lose after a medical error has occurred because attempts to obtain civil litigation may be too risky and expensive to conduct, or because so-called “tort reform” efforts have limited the ability of patients to receive fair compensation for injuries caused by  medical malpractice.

Studies conducted by Harvard Medical School collected data on insurance against medical malpractice has shown that most medical malpractice claims are based on one of four types of errors: wrong diagnosis, surgical complications, birth / delivery and mismanagement of medication errors.

Most requests come from the absence of a physician to correctly diagnose colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer or skin cancer.  Most of these cases is the result of a misdiagnosis, or the fact that medical basic medical directives recognized describe conditions such as anemia, bleeding or low hematocrit in the blood of patients or the doctor, lab tests, radiologist or administrative staff to adequately inform and monitor the performance  of tests, including biopsies, indicating the presence of cancer.

surgical errors represent one fourth of all medical errors.  A number of cases of surgical malpractice occurs as a result of technical sub-standard, such as when a surgeon nearby organ damage, spinal cord, or cutting the internal structures.

Most cases of surgical malpractice in fact due to a lack of communication.  Many hospitals do not have the necessary protocols and checklists to ensure that accurate and relevant information is exchanged between doctors in the care of a patient.  surgical treatment and care following is also important, because that’s when preventable complications such as paralysis or blindness occurs.  Surgeons, nurses and other hospital staff often do not respect the important issues after the surgery that abnormal test results or premature discharge of some patients.

If the birth / delivery of medical malpractice, sometimes referred to as “birth injury” cases, often the result of failure of the obstetrician to diagnose and treat a high-risk situation in a pregnant woman, such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, or two-to-fetal  transfusion syndrome.  Another bad practice conducted by the obstetrician is an acquired lack of recognition of fetal distress or dystocia during the birth process.  In particular, a large number of obstetric malpractice claims arise from the fact that the obstetrician to properly monitor and assess the baby’s heart rate (often called “tracking of the fetus”).  The obstetrician has an obligation to look for unusual heart rates or episodes, which as late decelerations or variable heart rhythm.

In summary, most medical malpractice as a result of failure or the doctor agreed to comply with professional guidelines or failure of many health professionals to communicate adequately with each other.