Preventing Injuries from Common, Dangerous Hospital Errors
When most people think of a hospital, they think of it as a safe place to go when one needs medical help. While these places of healing are crucial to many people, they can also be an incredibly dangerous environment. According to The Leapfrog Group, an independent hospital safety advocate, nearly 440,000 people die every year due to medical mistakes made in hospitals. What is particularly unfortunate is that most of these deadly mistakes are preventable. Here are a few common medical errors that occur in U.S. hospitals and how …
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Common Medication Errors in Hospitals
The American Nurses Association says that medication errors cause more than 7,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. These types of medical errors often increase the duration of a hospital stay and the amount of patient expenses, with the average error costing anywhere from $2,000 to nearly $9,000. If your medical situation was worsened by hospital staff whose mistakes led to a negative reaction to a medication, or if a loved one lost their life due to a medication overdose, underdose, misidentification, or failure to administer, a medical malpractice attorney …
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Illinois Jury Awards $50 Million in Birth Injury Case
Earlier this month, a jury in Cook County returned a verdict in favor of a family whose child suffered severe injuries during his birth in 2009. The jury awarded the family more than $50 million in damages—reportedly the third-largest medical malpractice verdict on record in the state. The lawsuit was filed in 2014 against NorthShore University Health System, Evanston Hospital, and several doctors and nurses. The health system is expected to appeal the verdict. A Tragic Series of Events In March 2009, a 35-year-old woman went to Evanston Hospital, part …
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What You Need to Know About Malpractice in the Emergency Room
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 140 million visits to the emergency room occur in the United States every year. These numbers equate to almost 400,000 ER visits on an average day. When a person visits the emergency room, it is usually because he or she is dealing with a relatively serious health problem. The issue is at least serious enough that it could not wait for a family doctor to be available. While there are people who go to the ER for more minor …
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Misdiagnosis and Diagnostic Errors at the Center of Many Medical Malpractice Suits
When you go to a doctor, you are assuming that he or she will perform his or her job proficiently and without error. We put a tremendous amount of power and trust in the hands of medical professionals. Unlike many other professions, the decisions that doctors and other healthcare workers make can have life or death consequences. The law, therefore, holds medical professionals to an especially high standard. Mistakes Diagnosing Patients Can Be Medical Negligence When a doctor or other medical professional causes a patient injury or harm due to …
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Medical Malpractice Suits in Illinois
Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, nurse, other healthcare professional, or institution does not use reasonable care while treating a patient, causing him or her to be injured or killed. The term “standard of care” is used when talking about what type of behavior is expected of medical professionals. Put simply, the standard of care refers to the actions any other healthcare professional in a similar situation would have taken. Breaching the standard of care is called medical negligence. If you or a loved one have suffered due to medical …
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