If you believe that you had a heart attack, the last thing you want is for your doctor to make a mistake and send you home, believing that nothing serious is wrong with you. If they tell you that it's something else, whether it's stress, anxiety, indigestion or even a...
Wrong-patient surgery: Did your surgeon mistake you for someone else?
When you think about wrong-site surgery and the potentially catastrophic results, you likely think of your actual surgeon merely getting confused about where to do surgery on your body. A common example is if someone is supposed to have their left leg amputated but...
Is the failure to obtain consent for treatment equal to malpractice?
If you think back to when you last filled in intake paperwork before seeing a medical provider, then you likely remember signing off on various documents giving your permission for them to treat you. Doctors must go one step further when preparing to perform a...
When items are left behind in surgery
It sounds almost unimaginable: A surgeon is alleged to have left a foreign body inside of a patient. Typically, it will be a surgical sponge, but surgical instruments and other items have also been left inside and the patient stitched closed. These cases don’t end...
Reluctant to sue? It could still be the right option for you
It’s normal to be reluctant to sue a medical provider after you’ve been injured. People, yourself included, largely understand that doctors and other medical providers are human and do make mistakes. If they’re willing to admit fault try to fix those mistakes...
Time-out procedures protect both you and your doctors from harm
Medical safety analysts invest significant time in reviewing adverse patient outcome data. They rely on their analysis to devise strategies that doctors can use to minimize the chances of a patient unnecessarily suffering harm. These safety analysts came up with the...
Medication errors can be made with IV-administered drugs
Medication and prescription drug mistakes can be easy to overlook at first. They might cause your treatment not to work. You could have an allergic reaction that no one can explain. Sometimes, however, prescription mistakes can have catastrophic consequences for...
Deadly medical mistakes far more common than often assumed
Do you assume that medical mistakes happen rather infrequently and that most doctors tend to do a good job during most of their cases? If so, you’re definitely not alone. Most people do think of major medical errors -- especially fatal ones -- as infrequent events....
Pharmacy errors are real: Don’t get complacent
It’s easy to believe that your pharmacist will do everything by the books, but this line of thinking could have a negative effect on your health and well-being. Prescription drug errors come in many forms, including the following: Filling the wrong prescription: You...
A bad blood draw or injection can do permanent damage to your veins
Medical professionals train so that they can easily and accurately insert a needle into someone's vein to draw blood or give a drug without damaging the nearby tissue. Unfortunately, not all medical workers are as skilled as they ought to be when it comes to...