How hospitals act when it comes to medical devices matters greatly. This includes what a hospital does after injuries or deaths occur in relation to such a device at the hospital. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration puts reporting requirements on hospitals when it comes to such incidents. Among these…
The death of Lavern’s Law saved hospitals and insurers a lot of money. Should that money go to a senator who helped kill it? This post is not a political endorsement. It is meant to call attention to the forces that affect victims of medical malpractice. Earlier this year, New…
Medication errors can come about in many different ways. Sometimes, they happen as a result of mistakes made at pharmacies. Customers trust that pharmacies will get everything right when filling their prescription. Unfortunately, sometimes, this doesn’t happen. Incidents occasionally occur in which a pharmacist makes a mistake, such as a…
How new AI technology could save cancer patients Doctors go through extensive training to learn to diagnose critical conditions such as cancer. But even the smartest, most diligent physicians make mistakes sometimes. According to the healthcare journal BMJ Quality and Safety, breast cancer is misdiagnosed up to 28 percent of…
A misdiagnosis can have many negative effects on a patient. One is a patient getting treatment for a condition they don’t actually have. Such unnecessary treatments can be problematic, particularly if they carry risks of severe side effects. One medical condition that has treatments that can have major side effects…
When receiving a treatment that a doctor recommended, patients generally trust that the treatment is one that actually has the potential to help them with their particular medical condition. Unnecessary treatments can have negative consequences for patients, as some treatments can have risks associated with them that patients would be…
Why aren’t doctors paying more attention to injured mothers? In our culture, new mothers face a tremendous amount of pressure. In addition to caring for a new child, many women are expected to recover quickly and get back to their normal lives very soon after giving birth. Unfortunately, many new…
Five critical errors that can lead to misdiagnosis When your body is fighting cancer, a prompt and accurate diagnosis can literally be a matter of life and death. So why do doctors keep getting it wrong? According to the New York Times, doctors and pathologists misdiagnose up to 28 percent…
Last time, we began looking at the positive trend of increasing transparency in the delivery of health care. There are a variety of positive changes that will come about as the result of increased transparency in health care, particularly when medical error ends up harming a patient. Unfortunately, in many…
We don’t need to debate the merits of a for-profit medical system today, other than to say that that’s exactly what we have in this country right now. As a result, the profit drives all of the decision making, and that can lead to some horrible mistakes or some sub-standard…