The idea that medical practitioners make errors is worrying. Patients always put their trust in them, so when a healthcare provider offers substandard services or neglects a patient, this trust can be broken.
Medical malpractice can lead to injuries or death. Below are four areas where medical errors can occur.
Treatment
Errors that occur in the treatment section include failing to diagnose, misdiagnosis, failing to treat, failing to order tests, delayed diagnosis and prescription drug errors.
A doctor should be careful when treating a patient to prevent significant consequences. For instance, a doctor who fails to diagnose or misdiagnosed a patient may harm them because the disease in question can become serious, yet it could have been controlled.
After treatment
After treating a patient, a physician should provide quality aftercare. Not informing a patient about the side effects of a drug or treatment, not following up and prematurely discharging a patient may be considered medical malpractice.
Surgery
Unfortunately, a significant percentage of medical errors occur in the operating room. These include performing unnecessary surgery, operating on the wrong patient or site, performing a wrong procedure, anesthesia errors, injuring adjacent organs and leaving tools in a patient’s body.
Delivery section
The delivery area of the hospital should bring joy because mothers get to meet their babies. However, this is not always the case – mistakes also happen in this department. Examples include failing or delaying to perform a C-section, not monitoring a baby’s heartbeat, failing to recognize fetal stress, inappropriate use of tools and using too much pressure to pull the baby. Birth injuries can lead to long-lasting or life-threatening effects.
If you have experienced medical malpractice in any of these departments and more, you should consider your options to protect your rights.