Posted On January 4, 2012 Personal Injury

Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice

Sometimes we do not realize how precious good health is until we are sick or injured. A serious illness can completely derail your life and you want nothing more than to have things back to normal. When we are sick we put our trust in trained doctors and other medical professionals to help us get better, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.

Everyone makes mistakes, but when a medical expert does the result could be life-threatening. Medical malpractice is one of the most devastating types of personal injury claims. There are many different ways in which inaction or mistakes made by the doctor can result in the injury of the patient.

Here are some of the most common mistakes that lead to injury:

• Misdiagnosis. An estimated 30% of all medical malpractice cases are misdiagnoses. An article in Redbook reported that some of the most common misdiagnoses include stroke, TMJ, heart attack or heart disease, and hypothyroidism. This type of claim also includes failure to diagnose or delay in diagnosing. If you illness or ailment is not properly detected, you cannot be given the proper treatment.
• Prescription drug errors. These errors can be found at many different levels of care, from the doctor who wrote the prescription to the pharmacy that dispensed it. Often times over prescribing, under prescribing, or a dangerous combination of medications result in injury or death. In one recent Pennsylvania case, a man was prescribed medications that could not be taken together which resulted in his death. Since the family sought the help of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer, they were able to recover significant damages for their loss.
• Failure to treat. This includes instances where the doctor or medical professional diagnosed the problem but then did not treat it, failed to refer the patient to a specialist, prematurely discharging the patient from care, did not follow up or reevaluate the situation, or elected or refused to treat based on conservative beliefs or other reasons. None of these reasons for not treating are ethical or acceptable.
• Surgical errors or mistakes. Everyone knows that there are risks involved with surgery, but errors are a lot more common than we would like to believe. These mistakes can be made by the anesthesiologist, nurses, and the surgeons themselves. Different errors can include mistaken incisions, vascular damage, foreign bodies, and more.

Medical Malpractice Statistics

• The National Institute of Health reported that annually 225,000 people die as the result of medical malpractice
• 1,500,000 people are injured or killed as the result of medication errors every year according to the Institute of Medicine
• The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that nearly half of all medical malpractice suits are brought up against surgeons
• The Institute of Medicine also reported that medication errors are one of the most common medical mistakes and results in the death or injury of 1,500,000 people each year

Each medical malpractice suit will be as unique as the person involved. If you or a loved one has been injured because of medical malpractice it helps to know your legal rights and options. The skilled New Jersey medical malpractice attorneys at Console & Associates P.C. understand what you are going through. We will work hard to limit the added stress of pursuing a personal injury claim and will be there with you through the whole process making sure you get the compensation you deserve. Call today at (866) 778-5500 to set up your free, confidential consultation.