A doctor who doesn’t pay attention during an office visit can overlook important symptoms and make a misdiagnosis. A surgeon who gets distracted during a procedure can operate on the wrong location or simply do a poor job with the right procedure. A nurse who isn’t...
Medical malpractice
4 examples of surgical errors in medical malpractice
Picture this: You have a medical condition that requires minor surgery, which the doctor says should be a walk-in/walk-out procedure. However, something goes wrong during the operation, and you find yourself in a worse position than before. You may be a victim of a...
Why is it so common for doctors to initially misdiagnose cancer?
Cancer comes in many different forms, but all cancer can be life-threatening if not quickly diagnosed and treated. Given how prevalent cancer is, you would think that doctors would always rule it out as a possible cause of patients' symptoms before looking for other...
What are surgical never events, and how often do they occur?
Medical mistakes come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are far more severe than others. Mistakes made during surgery, for example, are often far more dangerous than a mistake during a basic annual physical exam. A surgical error could involve just a tremor of...
Why are doctors required to perform a time-out procedure pre-surgery?
Ask any professional who has to perform highly technical work-related tasks. They'll likely tell you that there's either a step-by-step procedure or game plan they must develop when carrying certain activities out. Surgeons aren't exempt from this. These doctors must...
Overworked doctors can easily make diagnostic mistakes
Doctors working in hospitals and private practices often see multiple patients every hour. For each patient they interact with, they have to review medical records, talk with them (and maybe family members), reach a diagnosis and update charts. The pressure that comes...
Was your medication error attributable to healthcare information technology?
Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PPSA) officials initiated an investigation into the causes of 889 reported medicinal error cases during the first half of the year in 2016. The investigators determined that many of them were attributable to healthcare...
A law that takes effect this spring may improve your medical care
Have you ever left a doctor’s office feeling like they were too distracted or rushed to really listen to what you were telling them? Did you only realize on the way home from a doctor’s visit that you forgot when they told you to come back for more lab work? Thanks to...
What do doctors mistake a heart attack for?
You go to the doctor or the hospital because you think you’re having a heart attack. The doctor makes a diagnosis, but they mistake your heart attack for something else. This delays treatment, increases the odds of death and puts you at serious risk. Even if things...
Are you overly anxious about your health or is your doctor wrong?
You start to feel sick. Fearing that it’s serious, you go to the doctor. They look at you for a few minutes, tell you that you appear to be fine, and send you home. Maybe they recommend that you get some rest or drink more fluids, but they don’t seem to think it’s...
