Medical errors happen every day. They occur in alarming numbers and are extremely costly. Some areas of inpatient and outpatient healthcare are particularly unsafe, such as pediatrics, surgery centers, emergency rooms, hospice care, intensive care units (ICUs), lower-volume hospitals, nursing homes/rehabilitation facilities, and more.
The average person may think because medical errors happen so frequently, that medical malpractice lawsuits are abundant and that these cases are clogging up the courts. But these are just two in a long list of medical malpractice myths that need to be cleared up.
Misdiagnosis is more common than many people think, especially among pediatric patients. In a study that examined over 1,200 pediatric medical malpractice claims, the most common patient assessment issue was “failure to appreciate and reconcile relevant signs, symptoms and test results.”
The providers in the study failed to see the bigger clinical picture by looking at all available information (such as patient history, reported symptoms, a physical exam, and test results) to properly diagnose the patient.
The third most-common cardiovascular health threat is venous thromboembolism (VTE), or a blood clot in the leg that travels to the lungs. When diagnosed, it can be treated with surgical thrombectomy. But sometimes doctors don’t diagnose it in time to treat it with thrombectomy.
According to WorldThrombosisDay.org, “blood clots in the leg and lungs are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide, many of which could be avoided with proper diagnosis and treatment.”
Most VTE fatalities happen from a failure to diagnose, rather than a failure to treat it. When diagnosed in a sufficient amount of time, surgical thrombectomy is an adequate treatment to prevent long-term injury and death.
When a person is admitted into the hospital, they put their lives in the hands of medical professionals. Each of us trusts that the doctors, nurses, medical assistants, radiology technicians, and any other medical staff have our best interests at heart. But these professionals make mistakes.
Patients turn to physicians for proper diagnosis and treatment. They put their trust in medical staff to take the right steps, run the right tests, and make the right diagnosis. When a doctor fails to diagnose a condition it can lead to permanent damage and sometimes death.
Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are common in the United States. One in 31 patients contracts a HAI every day. Not only can these infections delay a patient’s recovery, they can also increase the length (and expense) of the hospital stay, and even cause death.
Worst of all: hospital acquired infections are largely preventable.
When you think of maternal mortality, what do you envision? A woman who hemorrhages during labor and dies shortly after? Or an undiagnosed infection that leads to sepsis and death weeks after giving birth?
A handwriting analyst plays a unique role in a court case. Their expertise lies in identifying similarities and differences from the document in question. They can analyze a handwritten note, for example, and look at aspects such as how it’s written, and the details in the writing.
Expert consultants are knowledgeable in their areas of specialization, and bring major advantages to your case strategy and are able to testify in the courtroom.
Before you even know if you should pursue a case, where do you go when you have questions you can’t answer? What if you have a straight forward, single issue you need help with before you can move forward?
There’s more to hiring testifying experts then selecting the first one you find and hoping for the best. A successful relationship with a testifying expert requires strategy. It requires forethought. It requires diligence. And it requires following the below steps before and during direct examinations.
