Malpractice in healthcare A tort is generally defined as a civil wrong which causes an injury. “Medical malpractice refers to professional negligence by a health care professional or provider in which treatment provided was substandard, and caused harm, injury or death to a patient” (Nordqvist). Meaning medical malpractice is a tort. The lack of media coverage on medical malpractice has made the public unaware of how stern this problem is becoming. It’s a serious issue that needs to be brought to light. Many lose loved ones because of a mistake caused by certain healthcare professionals. A wide variety of situations can lead to a medical malpractice claim. From failing to tell the patients the side effects of a prescribed medication to leaving …show more content…
A misdiagnosis occurs when a doctor fails to recognize symptoms, instead they attribute them to another illness. Thus, the original illness may go untreated. This can cause the symptoms to worsen. While the patient is taking medicine that’s supposedly supposed to make them feel better, it can worsen the disease. By the time they find out that they are taking the wrong medication, it can be too late and the illness most likely will have gotten to the point where it may be too late to treat. For example, “A doctor in a hospital fails to recognize cardiac tamponade in a 63-year-old man, and the lack of diagnosis or treatment leads to his death” (Morgan & Morgan). A few months ago, my mother got into a car accident. She went to the doctor and complained of neck pain. The doctor told her that she just needed to rest and it was just a minor issue. A few weeks later, she returned to the hospital because the pain just seemed to worsen. After conducting a few tests, the doctor then found out that she had a compression fracture. As a result, she had to go to physical therapy. Doctors make mistakes and it’s up to the patient to let them know when they fear that something is bothering them. Per the United States National Practitioner Data Banks, the highest medical malpractice rate of 70% comes from physicians. While dentists carry 13% and nurses carry 9%. Malpractice in healthcare is a serious issue that should be taken seriously. According to the American Journal of Medicine, each year up to 15 percent of patients suffer needlessly as a result of wrong diagnoses, which include misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis.
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Show MoreMedical malpractice cases are difficult for the families who have lost their loved one or have suffered from severe injuries. No one truly wins in complicated court hearings that consist of a team of litigation attorneys for both the defendant and plaintiff(s). During the trial, evidence supporting malpractice allegations have to be presented so that the court can make a decision if the physician was negligent resulting in malpractice, or if the injury was unavoidable due to the circumstances. In these types of tort cases, the physician is usually a defendant on trial trying to prove that he or she is innocent of the medical error, delay of treatment or procedure that caused the injury. The perfect example of being at fault for medical malpractice as a result of delaying a procedure is the case of Waverly family versus John Hopkins Health System Corporation. The victims were not compensated enough for the loss of their child’s normal life. Pozgar (2012) explained….
Explain the issue or dilemma using information from the readings in the book and other sources.
Medical malpractice has been a controversial issue in the healthcare setting for centuries. Apparently, there are laws to protect patients’ from medical mistakes and errors that are the result of negligence. After researching various laws and medical liability cases based on allegations of negligence, this paper will discuss and provide details on the medical malpractice case of Dorrence Kenneth versus Charleston Community Memorial Hospital. The case analysis will briefly explain information from the beginning to end, including: laws that were violated, codes in the healthcare industry that were breached by the physician and Charlesto...
Medical error occurs more than most people realize and when a doctor is found negligent the patient has the right to sue for compensation of their losses. Debates and issues arise when malpractice lawsuits are claimed. If a patient is filing for a medical malpractice case, the l...
In “When Doctors Make Mistakes,” Atul Gawande flatly states that “all doctors make terrible mistakes” (657). In doing so he explains certain failures and errors that doctors commit that led to situations that in danger patients. Gawande first mentions a study that found “…nearly
Even the best physicians have committed malpractice on their patients, but people believe that it is because of poor communication. Scientists believe there are ways that will help you with prevent malpractice from happening to you or another doctor. One way would be to do your homework and pay attention in class. Communicate with your patient, talk to them about their day or what they are like. Lastly, one of the most important ways would be to listen and learn from your patient. Understand what they are speaking to you about because it may have to do with your health. These are some great ways to prevent malpractice and everyone should follow this no matter what kind of job because it always helps to communicate, listen, and learn from your client, patient, or business partner.
According to Poorolajal, medical errors occur when health care providers choose inappropriate methods of care or improperly execute an appropriate method of care (Poorolajal, et al. para 5 -10), which could potentially lead to loss of life and severe or permanent trauma to the victim. Valiani et al. argues, “Committing an error is part of the human nature” (540). Valiani et al. insist that no health care practitioner is immune to committing an error event if they demonstrate mastery of their skills (540). However, error in health care systems is dependent on many causes and factors. Management of such factors is essential to reducing the occurrence of errors in a health care system. Therefore, what strategies can medical practitioners implement to reduce medical errors? Medical practitioners can implement strategies such as communication, verification, and eliminating extended work shifts. These strategies are most effective because they help medical providers fulfill their full potential in doing their job in the most effective
Paul Mountjoy, a reporter of the Washington Times, asks whether medical errors are ranking third in causing deaths in US. In the article, he notes that medical error complications are an emerging major public health issue as he reports that nearly 400,000 American patients die annually due to complications resulting from medical errors. The trend seems to be growing because nearly 10 years ago the figure was nearly 250,000 cases. This is according to a report by Dr. Starfield. Without much guess, this confirms that actually medical errors rank third in killing American citizens. Cancer and heart complications of course take the lead.
When evaluating medical malpractice, this can be performed by any healthcare professional. It is easy to classify this to be misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment, even not taking the time to evaluate a patient properly. When practicing medicine it is important that all measures be taken when a patient is showing signs of infection or having any adverse reaction to medication. In the case study below this is a prime example of the importance of checking patient progression.
Clinical negligence, also known as medical negligence is a classification for situations in which a doctor or healthcare provider acted irresponsibly, resulting in unnecessary harm or injury. Put simply an unreasonable action carried out by a doctor caused significant harm to a patient.
The world for the medical care field is one that has changed dramatically over the years so much so that medical errors have become the third leading cause of death in America. Unfortunately, this is not common knowledge to majority of the population stepping into a hospital today. This in itself is concerning because the amount of people who enter the hospital are generally sick, ill, or injured can sometime due to negligence of any other form of medical malpractice can become increasingly worse just by trusting their health care professionals. These doctors have the power to determine whether an individual live or dies, this is evident as thousands of people are killed by leaving there fate in the
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) defines negligence as a "failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances." JCAHO defines malpractice as "improper or unethical conduct or unreasonable lack of skill by a holder of a professional or official position; often applied to physicians, dentists, lawyers, and public officers to denote negligent or unskillful performance of duties when professional skills are obligatory. Malpractice is a cause of action for which damages are allowed" (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2003).
Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error (Michelle, 2014).
Generally speaking, negligence, error, incompetence, these are the words commonly associated with malpractice yet many have no idea what the true definition states. Malpractice can be defined according to the legal nurse consultant of Independent Medical Evaluations Inc., Jan Parrish (2010), “as a violation of professional duty or a failure to meet a standard of care or failure to use the skills and knowl...
Despite records breaking of medical malpractices and serious misconduct that put patients at risk, many doctors are still able to practice medicine. Whether narrowly avoided or followed as a consequence of patient injury, medical errors have increasingly taken a center stage in health care debates. Health care professionals, patients, policy makers and politicians have engaged in a close fight with the extreme consequences and facts of medical errors. Because of cases ranging from failure to disclose medical errors, wrong site surgery, negligence and incompetence, doctors should lose their medical license.