When Things Go Wrong Medically

When something goes wrong medically, it will often go wrong at just
about any point in the process of being diagnosed to being treated.
Generally speaking, the kinds of errors that are most commonly made in
the health care system are technical errors, misdiagnosis, failure to
prevent injuries, and medication errors. While many people think that
medication errors should lead the pack in terms of medical malpractice,
they actually rank the lowest and come in at about 10 percent according
to a study by the Institute of Medicine. Technical errors were rated at
44 percent, misdiagnosis at 17 percent, and failing to prevent injury
came in at 12 percent.
"The most disturbing fact is that virtually all of the errors cited
were thought to have been preventable," said Bradley J. Hofland, a Las
Vegas personal injury lawyer. Other errors included patients reacting
badly to drugs that didn't have a previous history of allergies.
Generally speaking, these kinds of misunderstandings are considered to
be just a small part of the problem and other organizations have
concluded that patients experience slip-ups in other ways; such as an
error in administration, a failure in communication, erroneous lab
results, and malfunctioning medical equipment.

"In addition, medical errors don't tend to just happen in a
hospital, and may arise in a physician's office, an operating room, a
clinic, the ER, at a drug store/pharmacy, at home, in a lab, or a
nursing home," added Hofland.

Many people don't realize that misdiagnosis is classified as one of
the most costly forms of medical errors simply because it often leads
to wrong medical treatments, delayed treatment or even no treatment
because of a misdiagnosis. "Be aware that there are also an increasing
number of people who attempt to self-diagnose by surfing for conditions
on the Internet," indicated Bradley J Hofland, a Las Vegas personal injury lawyer.

Aside from that form of misdiagnosis, there are some conditions that
just don't get pinpointed, particularly if there are no major symptoms
presenting. "Even if there are symptoms, this does not mean that there
won't be a wrong diagnosis if the disease mimics something else. Along
the same lines, there is also a chance of a right diagnosis, but the
wrong subtype of disease," explained Hofland. Included in this area of
misdiagnosis is also the fact that a disease, if diagnosed, may have a
variety of companion complications that need to be dealt with and
treated.

Cases such as the ones mentioned here should be discussed with a
highly skilled attorney, familiar with this area of the law. The only
way to obtain justice in situations like this is to seek redress
through the courts for personal injuries.

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