Medical errors and malpractice is becoming a major problem in America.There are approximately 15,000-19,000 lawsuits against doctors yearly.(medicalnewstoday.com) There are many reason behind why this is such a problem. I will be touching on each reason and why each of them has become a problem. This is not just something that affects doctors, all medical personnel are responsible for patient care. When we think of medical malpractice the first thing we think of is a doctor who has caused physical harm to a patient.This is not the only example the harm can be physical or mental and it also affects physician assistants, nurses, psychiatrist,dentist, therapists, optometrist, and pharmacist. Medical errors and malpractice are in my opinion not …show more content…
The most common stories are operating on the wrong body part or amputating the wrong body part. We all know all about those stories so I want to look into the stories not commonly talked about. Medical malpractice includes more than just a doctor cutting off the wrong body part. It includes misdiagnosis, not ordering the correct test or lab, not follow up with patients, not taking lab result into account, misreading test and lab results, not recognizing symptoms, and over medicating, under medicating, as well as prescribing the wrong medication.(abpla.org) Simply put medical malpractice is anything that causes physical or mental harm to a patient. Medical malpractice began sometime in the 1800s with malpractice lawsuits increasing in the …show more content…
Not only does the patient have to live with their injury the rest of their life, their family also has to deal with it as well. While not all medical errors cause major debilitating harm they are nonetheless medical errors and need to be addressed. When a patient comes in to see the doctor they expect him or her to correctly diagnosis and treat them. When a doctor fails to correctly diagnose a patient, read a test result properly or disregard the results all together this deprives the patient of autonomy. Autonomy is cannot be achieved if any of the above listed malpractices occur. The patient cannot make an informed decision about their care if they are not given correct information. Beneficence is void in these cases as well. If a doctor disregards test and lab results or prescribes the wrong medication or more of the medication then the patient needs the doctor is not acting in the best interest of the patient. All of the above things listed void non-maleficence. Doctors end up causing harm to the patient when the misread a test or lab result, disregard results altogether, not following up with patients, and medicating the patient incorrectly. This can cause patients to have unnecessary surgery, procedures, take medications they really do not need, even death. Justice is not served when doctors get lazy, tired or simply do not care. They are supposed to do what is in the best interest of all patient
In the healthcare industry, medical malpractice has a history that extends way beyond the days of physicians carrying a black bag full of medication and remedies to treat patients. Health care has since evolved to digital technology that can detect and treat disease. However, before physicians had advanced machinery making medical diagnosis, doctors had their textbooks and medical judgment to rely on for treatment. Physicians are human and medical mistakes can happen, but should not happen due to negligence. With that said, medical malpractice lawsuits are not the latest trend in the United States. According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, medical malpractice lawsuits first appeared in the United States beginning in the 1800s. However, before the 1960s, legal claims for medical malpractice were rare, and had little impact on the practice of medicine. Since the 1960s the frequency of medical malpractice claims has increased; and today, lawsuits filed by aggrieved patients alleging malpractice by a physician are relatively common in the United States.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported in 1999 that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in the United States due to a preventable medical error. A report written by the National Quality Forum (NQF) found that over a decade after the IOM report the prevalence of medical errors remains very high (2010). In fact a study done by the Hearst Corporation found that the number of deaths due to medical error and post surgical infections has increased since the IOM first highlighted the problem and recommended actions to reduce the number of events (Dyess, 2009).
I have been aware of medical errors for some time now. While in nursing school I have heard many stories from classmates and instructors of instances where people they knew, or loved ones had been either harmed or died because of a medical error. I have had experiences with medical errors. When I was in the hospital for the birth of my first child, the nurse that came to change out my IV bag did not check the
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...
For hundreds of years doctors and other medical professionals have gotten away with little to no punishment when doing wrong in the medical field. Medical Malpractice happens in the care of the reckless medical professional and can be stopped by the correct supervision and discipline. Although medical malpractice is something huge, it could be eliminated by just taking a little extra time and review the care that is being given to a patient. Would you allow someone to give the care you’re giving to others, to your own family? You need the bed, so you discharge early. Patients aren’t properly informed. Legal documents aren’t thoroughly explained. Shortage of staff, hospital downsizing, or mergers. (“Nursing Center”) The only thing that the medical team should be worried about it the care of all of the patients. The medical field would become more advanced if the actual medicine was practiced the right way. Lives are being compromised everyday with incompetent doctors, practicing medicine. Medical Malpractice can be solved with the buckling down of the medical professionals, and the administration that watch over these professionals. Medicine is a complicated field, where lives, money, and careers are put on the line for such an important matter. Together, we can lessen, even eliminate Medical Malpractice all
He said, “Studies of specific types of error, too, have found that repeat offenders are not the problem. The fact is that virtually everyone who cares for hospital patients will make serious mistakes, and even commit acts of negligence, every year. For this reason, doctors are seldom outraged when the press reports yet another medical horror story. They usually have a different reaction: This could be me. The important question isn’t how to keep bad physicians from harming patients; it’s how to keep good physicians from harming patients” (658). Like Gawande asked—how do you keep good physicians from harming patients? Even the best of doctors and surgeons manage to make mistakes that led to being sued or even worst—they get to experience the death of their
Medical malpractice is like a virus that spreads contagiously and has been going on for many years. This phenomenon has caused deaths, diseases, and injuries due to the negligence of medical professionals towards their patients. Hospitals are losing their reputation and doctors are losing lots of their money. Usually after the doctor does something wrong, the patient should file a lawsuit against them and the hospital. One way to prevent malpractice is to pick younger doctors who are more careful with what they are doing. Malpractice is an occurrence that should be stopped soon or many injuries could occur to the patient due to the doctor’s negligence.
In short, medical negligence becomes medical malpractice when the doctor’s negligent treatment causes undue injury to the patient -- makes the patient’s condition worse, causes unreasonable and unexpected complications, or necessitates additional medical treatment, to name just a few examples of what’s considered “injury” in a malpractice case.
For healthcare providers, there is no word that elicits as much frustration, fear and anger as much as the word “malpractice.” Medical malpractice is defined as any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient. Medical malpractice is a specific subset of tort law that deals with professional negligence. In order to prove that there was some type of negligence going on you must show that:
Medical 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….
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.
Most people don't pay attention to malpractice until it's too late and it's happening to them and it's unbearable.The average annual number of suits filed each year is about 85,000, with the actual number of medical injuries estimated to be about one million per year. The amount of malpractice cases is rising and is continuing to rise and that's not good for the economy or for the civilians. “More than 250,000 people die each year in the United States because of medical errors.”( Manning) The issue is that malpractice is happening to often now and needs to come to a decline. I am a witness to this and so are both sides of my family with different
In the medical ethics case study given to me, Justin is new nurse at a hospital and has become great help to the other employees but he makes mistakes often. When it comes to medical ethics, it is important to do what you know is morally correct. We all want to be good Christians and make the right decisions but sometimes those decisions will affect others negatively. We may not always act how we ought to but those decisions do affect who we are.
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 knowledge of other professionals in similar circumstances.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The health care is extremely important to society because without health care it would not be possible for individuals to remain healthy. The health care administers care, treats, and diagnoses millions of individual’s everyday from newborn to fatal illness patients. The health care consists of hospitals, outpatient care, doctors, employees, and nurses. Within the health care there are always changes occurring because of advance technology and without advance technology the health care would not be as successful as it is today. Technology has played a big role in the health care and will continue in the coming years with new methods and procedures of diagnosis and treatment to help safe lives of the American people. However, with plenty of advance technology the health care still manages to make an excessive amount of medical errors. Health care organizations face many issues and these issues have a negative impact on the health care system. There are different ways medical errors can occur within the health care. Medical errors are mistakes that are made by health care providers with no intention of harming patients. These errors rang from communication error, surgical error, manufacture error, diagnostic error, and wrong medication error. There are hundreds of thousands of patients that die every year due to medical error. With medical errors on the rise it has caused the United States to be the third leading cause of death. (Allen.M, 2013) Throughout the United States there are many issues the he...