Various Kinds of Medical Negligence
There are different of types and instances of medical negligence that can occur in an infinite number of ways. However, many instances of medical negligence could be grouped into one of many following categories: misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose in time, surgical error, failure to follow up with treatment, failure to treat in a timely manner, anesthesia error, and medication or prescription error.
Probably the most challenging aspects of a doctor’s jobs is taking a set of symptoms and diagnosing the illness or injury causing them. Often times, several different illnesses might result in similar symptoms, but will require completely different treatment. For this reason, it’s important that, if a doctor has doubt regarding a diagnosis, further testing ought to be done.Probably the most common and dangerous forms of medical negligence relates to heart attack diagnosis, or coronary artery disease.
Coronary artery disease is a condition that will not show symptoms for many years, yet can ultimately result in a massive heart attack and death. Often times, the first manifestation of an impending heart attack will be chest pains, which can be misdiagnosed as strained muscles or something similar.Sometimes, a sickness or injury becomes more and more challenging to treat as time goes on. It is usually critical that a doctor diagnose an illness or injury in an proper amount of time, so that treatment can be administered and the patient made well.
Surgical errors are a common form of medical negligence and usually involve a doctor accidentally cutting or cauterizing an internal organ or tube, which can be defined as a negligent act if careful performance would have prevented it.Common injuries caused by surgical errors have to do with foreign fluids, such as urine, bile or feces, entering the abdominal cavity by way of a cut accidentally made during a surgical procedure.
This often leads to severe infections and sepsis shock which can lead to a patients death.Another form of surgical errors which usually may lead to medical negligence is known as wrong site surgery and is exactly what it sounds like. There are actually cases reported of patients needing an arm, leg, hand, finger or other appendage amputated, and a mistake prior to surgery results in the incorrect appendage being amputated.A typical example is a case of cancer.
If cancer is diagnosed early on, then the patient stands a much greater chance at recovery than if it is allowed to spread. Diagnosis of cancer can be done early on if the doctor is given a chance to examine the patient, such as at a routine check up, or a visit to the hospital for some potentially related symptoms. If the doctor does see the patient, and doesn’t diagnose potential symptoms of cancer, then the patient might be sent home and the cancer is going to be allowed to spread. Whether or not this is negligent treatment depends on the circumstances of the case.