Hospital Errors :: Birth Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Brain Damage, Erb's Palsy and Eminent Domain Law Practice in Puerto Rico.
Every year, millions of sick and injured people go to hospitals, putting their trust in medical staff to do whatever is necessary to help them. While the majority of patients receive the level of help and care required, others are not so fortunate. In fact, hospital errors occur more frequently than generally known. Even worse, when they do occur, hospital errors can have devastating, potentially fatal, consequences.
Common Hospital Errors
There is potential for a hospital error at many stages of the patient’s hospital visit. Everyone -- from the first nurse to check a patient in, to the doctor, to the x-ray technician, to the surgeon, to the pharmacist -- must be diligent about his or her work in order to ensure that patients have an error-free visit. Unfortunately, hospitals are often busy, short-staffed, and resources are often scarce. This creates an environment conducive to hospital errors.
- Doctors' mistakes
- Surgical errors
- Confusion of one patient with another
- Diagnostic errors
- Wrong site surgeries
- Medication errors
The Consequences of Hospital Errors
- Increased medical expenses
- Poor treatment results
- Permanent damage
- Infection
- Internal bleeding
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Death