Law

6 Types of Medical Malpractices

There are difference cases of medical malpractices and they could be caused by multiple mistakes. The most common type is probably surgical errors; however, there are also other types of medical malpractice.

  1. Chart mistakes: It could happen when physicians and nurses make inaccurate notes on the medical charts. This could lead to a series of mistakes. As an example, improper medical procedures can be performed and wrong medications could be administered. Poor medical treatments can be quite a dangerous thing and we should avoid that.
  2. Improper prescriptions: Doctors may need to deal with thousands of patients each year and each may require unique combination of medication. In this case, it is quite possible for doctors to prescribe improper medication. The doctor may mistake the current patient with others that he handled previously. In this case, improper mix medication can be quite dangerous. Some wrongly prescribed medications can be relatively harmless or moderately risky. However, pharmaceuticals are often contraindicated for specific conditions. This will lead to a dangerous situation, especially for pregnant mothers and elderly. Heart patients could be harmed by wrong drugs that cause blood thickening, because blockage and clotting may happen. In this case, it is important for doctors to carefully correlate the medical history of the patient and the recently given medications.
  3. Anesthesia: This malpractice procedure could be performed by an anaesthesiologist. In this case, these medical professionals administer a medication to put patients to deep sleep. Bad things can happen when the anethesia is improperly administered, causing it to wear off to quickly and patients may awake too soon.
  4. Delayed diagnosis: This is a common type of non-surgical malpractice. In this case, the doctor may fail to determine that the individual has a rather serious illness. In this situation, the doctor can be sued for his mistake. This could happen to cancer patients who need to be treated immediately. In this case, if cancer spreads before proper detection, the patient’s life can be endangered.
  5. Misdiagnosis: Even if the doctor has closely evaluated the condition of their patients, they can still make inaccurate assumption about the actual health of their patients. In this situation, unnecessary medication prescription and incorrect surgery can be performed. This will lead to injuries and significant financial losses to patients.
  6. Childbirth: Mistakes during this procedure could har both the infants and mothers. In this case, if the damage is permanent; a lifetime payment may be required. This can be extraordinarily costly. If the family needs to care for the child for a lifetime, then regular payments need to be awarded.

In this case, monetary compensation is more about punitive damage. The quality of life of the patient must be ensured to stay at higher level. Convicted medical professionals could even serve time in prison if they perform gross negligence and wilful malpractice. The medical license of the doctor can also be revoked. Obviously, doctors are human and they will definitely make mistakes. Even so, successful conclusion of medical malpractice cases could remind medical professionals to perform their job properly.