Medical Errors

Medical Errors are consistently a huge problem in the United States and in New Mexico when it comes to patient care. Common medical errors take place not just in hospitals, but surgery rooms, nursing homes, pharmacies and when patients receive care in their homes.
It is important for you or your loved one to seek out legal assistance as soon as possible after having been the victim of a medical error during treatment. Common medical errors include infections from surgery or during treatment in the hospital, not receiving a diagnosis despite having a new health problem or underlying condition, not receiving follow-up treatment, and your doctor not providing treatment despite test results showing a need for it.

Medical Errors can and should be prevented and when a doctor does not take the precautions to avoid such costly errors they can open themselves up to legal issues and be held liable for the misconduct.

Standard of care from doctors giving treatment should be at a very high level, especially when the care provider has learned how to monitor and prevent medical errors from happening in the future. As a patient, you have a reason to trust your doctor to provide the best care possible and to expect your treatment will be safe and error free. Doctors have an incentive to provide an exceptional standard of care both for their reputation and to lower costs at their facility when providing care.

A lack of recorded medical information and records not transferring to another facility is a way medical errors can arise. Doctors and healthcare providers rely on medical information to make treatment decision and to understand a patient’s health needs. A lack of this information can influence a doctor on whether or not to make prescribing decisions, not informing patients of their test results and not informing new doctors of a patients need when transferring them to another facility or doctor for care.

Human error can also play a part in whether or not procedures are followed by a doctor or care provider such as a lack of documentation on the patients’ needs and condition. It can also be the case that doctors from time to time simply have a lack of knowledge on when best to provide care.

Many times a medical error can come down to a lack of necessary training in order for healthcare providers to give care that is up to standards. It’s not just new employees either who are working off of a lack of knowledge. Experienced employees can make the same mistakes even if they have extensive training.

Lack of staffing at a facility can lead to medical errors because a healthcare worker can end up working in a situation that they are not accustomed to and make a mistake. Employees using equipment or medical devices improperly can lead to an irreversible medical error.
Trusting a medical facility and then becoming a victim of a medical error is not a fault of your own. The trust we put into a care providers can sometimes lead to preventable medical errors. Luckily a personal injury attorney can get you on track to move past such an incident and ensure compensation for improving your health since the incident and for the very costly mistake by your healthcare provider.
If you or a loved one have been the victim of a medical error while seeing your doctor or undergoing surgery, time is of the essence. Finding a lawyer will lead you on a path to moving on from the incident. The goal is to make you whole again and to be able to live a full life despite the medical error interrupting your life.