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Documentary sparks discussion about medical mistakes

 

Medical errors are one of the biggest understated fears for Pennsylvania residents. Since going to see a medical professional is done to receive effective treatment for an illness, condition or injury, there is a clear expectation that the medical professionals will adhere to standard protocol and provide the proper treatment. Unfortunately, medical errors are all-too common across the nation. These can lead to worsened conditions, massive medical expenses, long-term damage and even death. For those who think they might have been impacted by a medical error, it is important to understand the statistics for these occurrences and know how to take the necessary steps to file a lawsuit for compensation.

Medical professionals are abuzz after a documentary was released discussing medical errors that led to patient death. Administrators in local hospitals are formulating strategies to prevent these mistakes from happening. According to the discussions, it is imperative that medical centers put in place procedures that will identify human errors, implore employees to admit errors and use checklists. The documentary examined mistakes in hospitals. These included a person who received a misdiagnosis of cancer and died. Another involved a person who had jaundice that was not properly diagnosed and the patient ended up being disabled.

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority says that in the state in 2017 alone, there were at least 302,000 medical mistakes and infections that were acquired in the hospital. Although less than 300 led to a fatality, even one is too many. Statistics as to which hospitals were prone to making these mistakes were not provided. A rise in transparency is viewed as important and this might spark a change in that landscape. Errors that frequently happen include scans that are misread, providing medication to patients who are allergic, patients falling in facilities and complications such as a patient suffering a fracture while having surgery. In a 2016 study, Johns Hopkins stated that more than a quarter million fatalities occurred because of medical errors, making it the third most common cause of death in the U.S.

Oftentimes, people who have had a loved one harmed or who died because of medical errors will not even be aware that it happened. Medical facilities might not volunteer the information and an unexplained complication could remain unexplained. If there is a belief that a loved one was injured or died because of medical mistakes, the investigation is critical to determine the medical mistake.

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