There’s so much going on in today’s medical sector in different parts of the world. Doctors, medical practitioners, and other key players in this extensive industry are critical in helping people regain their health or manage whatever condition, illness, or sickness they have. Unfortunately, the number of medical malpractices has increased, and many people need to learn what they are and how they can rank them among personal injury cases. This article dives deeper into this subject to help you and others understand five medical malpractices that fall under personal injury.
1. Errors in Drug Prescription
Medicines and drugs prescribed to patients should treat their condition or make it manageable. For instance, you can get a prescription to deal with a stomachache or get one to manage a terminal illness like stage four cancer. Doctors, drug manufacturers, and suppliers aren’t immune to errors.
Some patients have found themselves or their loved ones with the wrong prescriptions for their sicknesses. Some prescription mistakes are severe, worsening the condition, and others lead to death. You can learn more about the current Tylenol autism lawsuit to understand the best example. Sadly, many don’t know the steps to follow after such an experience. The first thing is to consult a lawyer for proper legal representation in your personal injury case.
2. Surgical Operation Mistakes
Sometimes, surgery is the best alternative to drugs and medication for treating different health conditions. As advised by many health practitioners, tumors are among the conditions whose surgery is the top treatment option. Mistakes during such operations can worsen the situation or lead to another health issue in the patient’s body, while others are fatal.
Some common surgery malpractices include the operating team leaving tools, cotton wool, and sponges in the patient’s body, operating on the wrong body part, conducting surgery on the wrong patient, and operating in a non-medical environment. You can file a personal injury lawsuit against the surgeon if any mistakes happen to you or your loved one.
3. Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis is when the doctor fails to appropriately identify a condition, illness, or sickness, even after conducting examinations on the patient. This mainly happens with life-threatening conditions like cancer, tuberculosis, and heart disease. Wrong surgeries and drug prescriptions are the major results of misdiagnosed medical conditions, which can lead to severe catastrophic injuries and health consequences for the victim. These two reasons are why an inappropriate diagnosis falls under personal injury cases.
4. Failed Treatment
Sometimes, the doctor may diagnose a patient correctly but doesn’t offer a treatment option that rhymes with the acceptable care standard for the illness, disease, or condition. Some ways to identify failed treatment include when a doctor discharges a patient before their due date and a lack of medical follow-up care. These two may seem far-fetched, but you’d be surprised to learn that they can worsen the patient’s condition and cause severe injuries.
5. Injuries When Giving Birth
The government, different organizations, and human rights activists have taken adequate time to campaign for a safe delivery for mothers’ and children’s sakes. Unfortunately, some doctors, midwives, and nurses have found themselves in trouble from injuries incurred by patients or children during childbirth. Reports from the CDC show an increase in women dying during childbirth from 18.8% to 26.6% between 2000 and 2014 in the United States only. Some of these deaths result from birth-related injuries, such as spinal cord injuries, nerve damage, shoulder dystocia, and cerebral palsy.
Many medical malpractices and errors in the contemporary world have caused suffering and many deaths globally. Nevertheless, the above-explained five items show the top health-related mistakes you can term as personal injury. Some, like misdiagnosis, may be unintentional, while others, such as operating a patient on the wrong site, may be intentional from the health practitioner’s end. You must research more on the subject, considering your life or your loved one’s life may be on the line from these errors.
