Every year, many people go into doctor’s offices and hospitals expecting help and end up with a very different experience. Medical professionals, like everyone else, are capable of incompetence and negligence. Therefore, there are several laws in place that protect patients if they suffer injuries or die through the negligence or incompetence of a medical professional.
Since there are many duties and actions that medical professionals perform, there are also several ways in which one can be affected by medical malpractice.
The following are some of the most common types of medical malpractice:
- Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis
- Anesthesia errors
- Surgical errors
- Defective products
- Prescription drug errors
- Child birth errors
Failure to Diagnose/misdiagnosis
Proper diagnosis of symptoms is very important in determining the right treatment for patients. Sometimes, failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis may occur when symptoms aren’t completely obvious. No matter the circumstance, a delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis can be costly in possible treatment options. When a patient isn’t treated correctly because of misdiagnosis, the medical professional may be held liable for further injury. Common types of diagnosis errors include failure to diagnose conditions like appendicitis, diabetes, stroke, early symptoms of a heart attack, meningitis, cancer and pulmonary embolism
Anesthesia Mistakes
Anesthesia, just like prescriptions, can be risky when administered wrongly. If your anesthesiologist exposes you to danger, whenever it occurs, call a personal injury law firm.
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors can include various complications, such as wrong site surgery, wrong patient surgery, incorrect incisions, damage to an organ or body part, and complications related to the surgery itself. Surgical errors may result in serious medical problems, lengthy post-operative care, lifelong damage, or even death.
Defective Products
Sometimes it’s not the hospital, doctor or anesthesiologist that’s to blame for wrongful death or medical sufferings. Sometimes the equipment or medical products used during the patient’s stay at hospital are to blame and the product manufacturers have been negligent. In some cases, the product may not have passed safety standards.
Prescription Drug Errors
Prescription drug errors do affect a lot people every year. It’s one of the most common types of medical malpractice and can often turn fatal. Many cases of prescription drug errors go either unnoticed or unreported by patients. Some of the common drug errors include:
- Wrong medication
- Incorrect dosage
- Failure to reasonably anticipate complications
- Dangerous or defective drugs
- Illegible prescriptions
Any number of medical professionals can be found responsible for drug errors, such as physicians and doctors, nursing or healthcare staff, marketers, pharmacists and the drug manufacturers themselves.
Child Birth Errors
Unfortunately, there are times when medical negligence hurts a child immediately after birth. This can be caused by errors during or before the birth. For instance, a potential mother could be given medicine that can harm her child or the birth could be mishandled by the medical professional. Sometimes there may even be cases where the immediate care after birth is inadequate or handled incorrectly.
If you ever experience any case of medical malpractice, you may need to call on an experienced professional who will help you in filing proper lawsuit documents. For more information, contact the nearest medical malpractice lawyer in your area.
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About the author: Sam Moser is a freelance web content writer who graduated from the School of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. In the last 2 years, Sam has been attending court sessions to learn more about the legal process, and has been getting tips from medical malpractice lawyers in Toronto.
