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Four Common Yet Preventable Medical Mistakes
On average, each year about 200,000 people die and about four million people suffer injuries as a result of medical errors. According to U.S. News and World Report, these errors are preventable-which means they should have never occurred in the first place.
Here are some common preventable medical mistakes mentioned in the article:
- Medication errors. These types of mistakes are often the result of carelessness and negligence-not only on the part of a doctor, but also a nurse, anesthesiologist, or even pharmacist. Some of the most common medication errors are when patients are given the wrong medication or the wrong dose of medication. Although it seems unimaginable that instances like these occur, these serious situations sometimes happen when there is confusion surrounding sound-alike medications or when medical professionals are distracted or in a hurry. Another example of a medication error is when an anesthesiologist administers the wrong anesthesia or the wrong dose of anesthesia to a patient. And medication mistakes don't just take place at hospitals; pharmacy errors occur all too often. Patients and prescriptions can get mixed up and the wrong medication may get into a patient's hands, wrong doses can get filled, or the wrong instructions and labeling information can get adhered to the right drug-causing adverse effects such as an overdose, allergic reaction, seizures, or even serious injuries like respiratory issues and organ damage. Medication mistakes have the power to seriously injure patients and even claim lives.
Was ER Negligence To Blame For Misdiagnosing Your Stroke?
Many people who experience stroke symptoms don't know what's happening to them. They know they aren't feeling normal and some may have symptoms such as confusion and weakness, but it may never occur to them that they are experiencing a stroke; however, because they know something isn't right, they have someone drive them to the emergency room or they call 9-1-1 for help.
Once at an emergency room (ER), people expect that they will be monitored and treated for their health conditions and not made worse. However, sometimes emergency rooms are overcrowded, understaffed, and run poorly and critical mistakes can occur. People who are experiencing signs of a stroke may be misdiagnosed or discharged too quickly. This is why it is critical to know the signs of a stroke in an effort to save your or someone else's life.
Stroke Symptoms to Know
Most stroke symptoms come on fast, as a person can go from being fine to suddenly experiencing one or more of the following symptoms:
A Doctor’s Mistake Can Cause A Traumatic Brain Injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a very severe injury that can cause serious change in a person's life. Typically, this type of injury occurs after a severe blow, a spinning jolt, an object penetrating the skull, or bleeding in the brain. While most traumatic brain injuries are a result of car accidents, trucking accidents, falls, sports, violence, and war, some brain injuries have actually been caused by medical professionals.
How Healthcare Professionals Cause Traumatic Brain Injuries
While a traumatic brain injury caused by a surgeon, nurse, or other medical professional may sound rare, it can and does happen as a result of negligence, carelessness, and recklessness. The following are some of the most common medical mistakes that cause traumatic brain injuries:
- Misdiagnosing or delaying a brain injury diagnosis
- Failing to diagnose a subdural hematoma or aneurysm
- Penetrating a portion of the brain during surgery
5 Ways To Double-Check Your Virginia Cancer Diagnosis
You have been having stomach cramps for a few weeks. Not surprising, since your youngest is starting school and your job's been a little hectic lately. You think it's just stress, but your spouse wants you to see the doctor just to be sure.
At your appointment, you tell the doctor what you've been going through, and he agrees that it's probably just stress. Relieved, you go home with a prescription for stronger antacids.
And now, two years later, you have a tumor in your abdomen removed. You keep thinking back to that first appointment-shouldn't your doctor have done something then?
Learn more about cancer misdiagnosis in our FREE book: Do I Have A Case? A Patient's Guide to Virginia Medical Negligence Law.
Cases of misdiagnosed cancer are unfortunately all too common in Virginia. Patients are often so relieved to hear they are "fine" that they do not insist on follow-up testing-a mistake that could ultimately cost them their lives.
VA Hospital Negligence Can Be Hard To Spot
When a loved one is dying, you want him to have the best care available. You brace yourself for the inevitable, knowing that each time you visit their hospital room might be your last.
But when the day comes, how will you be able to tell whether the death was natural or a result of the hospital that was supposed to be providing care?
Learn more about hospital negligence in our FREE book: Do I Have A Case? A Patient's Guide to Virginia Medical Negligence Law.
All too often, cases of hospital negligence in Virginia go unreported. Sometimes the error is never identified because the victim was in critical condition to begin with, such as elderly patients or those who had been diagnosed with a terminal disease. Sometimes the hospital administration is aware of the mistake, but wants to avoid the bad press-and therefore, the responsibility-by refusing to acknowledge it.
Here are just a few types of hospital negligence in DC that can lead to serious injury:
- Failure to deliver appropriate treatment. This can be anything from a medical misdiagnosis to prescribing the wrong kind of medication for your condition.
When ER Mistakes Are Responsible For Failing To Detect Internal Bleeding
Many people who enter emergency rooms (ER) have traumatic injuries and serious medical conditions that warrant emergency surgeries. While most surgeries are beneficial and save people's lives, there are some surgeries that don't go as planned and cause the patient further harm. This often happens when medical mistakes result in internal bleeding (also known as internal hemorrhaging).
Internal bleeding can occur within one's organs, tissues, or in a body cavity such as the abdomen, and it may be caused by many medical errors, such as:
- Overlooked internal bleeding. When a patient enters the ER after suffering trauma during an accident, there may be multiple injuries a patient is being treated for. Internal bleeding after an accident may be overlooked due to other visible injuries that captured the attention of the surgeon.
- Missed medications. Some patients take blood thinners or other medications for their health conditions that can lead to hemorrhaging during surgery if a doctor fails to find out what medication a patient is taking prior to an operation. This is why it is critical that emergency room staff verify all patients' medications before surgery.
Virginia Construction Zone Accidents
When we drive through a construction zone, we often see the words of warning: Caution. Slow. Merge. These signs are so commonplace that, while our eyes glance over the familiar letters, we barely notice we're reading them. Unfortunately, when things are familiar, they're that much easier to ignore-and that's why work zones are sites for particularly dangerous Virginia car accidents.Here are a few facts about Virginia work zone accidents:
- The driver of the car is four times more likely to be killed in the crash than the worker.
- More highway workers are killed while working than Virginia firefighters and police combined.
- Someone is killed in a work zone in the United States every seven hours.
- The most common accident in a work zone is a rear-end collision, usually caused by a driver not slowing quickly enough for stopped traffic.
The easiest ways to avoid a work zone accident in Virginia are simple common sense: pay attention, give right of way, and be alert for changes. But there are other ways to avoid accidents-some before you even step into your car.
Delay In Diagnosis Is Grounds For A Medical Malpractice Claim
When people hear about medical malpractice claims, an image of a doctor operating on the wrong limb might come to mind; however, there are many instances of medical malpractice that are the result of a doctor's indirect error, such as a delay in diagnosis.
What Is a Delay in Diagnosis?
A delay in diagnosis is a situation in which a patient who has a certain health condition or illness isn't told of his or her condition for quite some time. For example, a patient may have been complaining of certain symptoms over a period of several months or years and a doctor failed to order labs, imaging tests, or conduct other studies in a timely manner. After a significant waiting period, a doctor finally performs the needed tests and provides the patient with the correct diagnosis. As a result of the delay, a patient's health was adversely affected.
A delay in diagnosis is often related to a misdiagnosis; however, they are not the same. The reason they are related is because some patients suffer from both types of doctors' errors. When a doctor misdiagnoses a patient, there is often a delay in receiving the correct diagnosis.
Patients Suffer At The Hands Of Negligent Pharmacists
When taking medication, you trust your doctor and pharmacist to get it right. Unfortunately, some pharmacists get it wrong and make critical errors behind the pharmacy counter that can jeopardize patients' lives. While some pharmacy errors are simply annoying, other mistakes made with prescriptions can be downright deadly.
Here are some of the ways pharmacy errors take place:
- Wrong medication. This type of pharmacy mistake is often made by negligent pharmacy technicians and overworked pharmacists who don't double check their work. Typically, these errors occur when drugs look alike or sound similar. Some examples include patients who have received potassium chloride instead of their correct drug potassium citrate for kidney treatment. Another example is when patients receive Clonazepam for schizophrenia instead of Clonidine for blood pressure. When patients receive the wrong drug, they may suffer strokes, heart attacks, or other adverse health concerns.
- Wrong dose. Not only do dosing mistakes frequently occur in hospitals and nursing care facilities, but patients sometimes receive wrong dosages from their local pharmacies. Unfortunately, most patients are unaware that their pharmacist filled the wrong dose of drug. Sadly, it often takes a serious overdose before a mistake of this nature is caught. When this occurs, patients are often hospitalized or even die as a result of being given the incorrect dose of drug.
It’s Not Impossible For Doctors To Perform The Wrong Surgical Procedure In DC
You've no doubt heard the horror stories about doctors removing the wrong leg, or hand, or even eye from a patient as he lies unconscious on the surgical table. Thankfully, your procedure is a simple appendectomy, and you've only got one appendix, so you're not at risk of a wrong-site surgery in Virginia.
Unless the doctor mistakes you for someone else.
In addition to wrong-side surgeries, a doctor mistaking one patient for another is a common mistake in hospitals across the country. Since surgeons operate on as many as twenty patients per day, they tend to see people as names on a chart rather than the individual before them-and it's surprisingly easy to mistake one chart for another.
Examples of Wrong-site Procedures
Some examples of wrong procedures being performed on patients nationwide:
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From our office in Fairfax, Shevlin Smith, P.C. serves clients throughout Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., including Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Burke, Centreville, Dale City, Fair Oaks, Leesburg, Manassas, McLean, Oakton, Reston, Springfield, and Woodbridge, as well as Fairfax County, Arlington County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
