medical malpractice

The CDC estimates that every day, 1 out of every 31 US hospital patients contract an HAI, a shocking number considering hospitals’ primary purpose of healing people. HAIs can be caused by improper preparation for surgery, failure to sanitize rooms and equipment, and improper antibiotic courses creating antibiotic-resistant bugs. These infections can be life-threatening, which is why hospitals take cases seriously, but sometimes not seriously enough, leading to cases of medical malpractice and negligence.

Goshen Hospital, Indiana

Goshen Hospital in Indiana recently released a report saying that over a thousand patients may have been exposed to HPV, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B due to a failure to properly sanitize surgical equipment. The hospital maintains that the risk was low for the patients that may have been affected and is providing free screenings for all those who have been marked as a potential risk.

Seattle Children’s Hospital, Washington State

More recently, and more deadly, the Seattle Children’s Hospital has come under fire after multiple patients died due to mold in the building. Patients were said to be exposed to mold during surgeries, as well as simply in the ward. The hospital shut the ward down multiple times in an attempt to handle the problem over the past decade but failed to fully fix the problem. 

The ward is closed again, with the goal being to replace the air filtration system.

Higher Risks Among the Already Sick

Infections are dangerous for everyone but pose a particular risk to those who are already undergoing treatment. An already sick patient often doesn’t have the same level of immune-system strength as a healthy person, and infection symptoms can match those of their existing illness. This can make misdiagnosing an infection even easier for medical professionals.

While there is always some risk of infection, risks can be reduced. The current level of HAIs in America begs a question about our healthcare system, and what happens if we can’t trust it to keep us healthy.

A recent study focused on the social media website Reddit, and more specifically, a crowd-sourcing sexually transmitted disease (STD) diagnosis forum on the site. The forum is quite active, with over 16,000 posts over an 8-year period, and posts get a response in an average of 3 hours.

Why it’s a bad idea to crowdsource an STD Diagnosis

Crowdsourcing medical advice is nothing new. It can be argued that most home-cures are crowdsourced, as there is no official medical basis for the idea that vitamin C will help you recover from a cold faster or eating sugar helps to heal a burnt tongue. 

STDs are a different story. Due to their contagious and often taboo nature, it can be easy to spread devastating STDs without telling anyone, and sometimes without knowing yourself. A proper medical diagnosis will provide the best options for treatment and containment. 

Despite the study looking at 500 random posts on the forum, the researchers were unable to provide statistics on whether or not the advice provided was sound. The reason they were unable to do this was that the researchers themselves were unable to properly diagnose the posters without sufficient knowledge of the patient or their situation. And that’s the entire point. Of the 500 posts reviewed,  20% were seeking a second opinion after being diagnosed by a healthcare professional. It is always recommended to trust the advice of healthcare professionals over strangers on the internet. Many factors go into making a diagnosis, and even attached photos won’t answer all of the questions a doctor might have.

Doctors can be held accountable for mistakes

One of the reasons doctors stay in school for years after receiving their bachelor’s of medicine or science is so that they are properly qualified to answer questions. When they make a mistake, they can be held accountable. Unfortunately, Reddit users giving their opinions cannot be found liable for medical malpractice, making their diagnosis much lower stakes for them. 

Of course, there are some times when doctors do make mistakes while diagnosing or otherwise. Sometimes doctors will fail to properly treat their patients, which can lead to an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation for those with STDs. 

In an example post, one person said that their doctor told them not to worry about his girlfriend’s high risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) since “guys have nothing to worry about and everyone has it.” This is not good advice since the Center for Disease Control has found that at least six different types of cancer can be caused by HPV in both men and women. This is an example of when a second opinion is recommended but should be sought from another medical professional.

If the stranger on the internet gives advice that leads to improper treatment, the fault is on the patient for following bad advice. 

This could be leading to increased rates of STDs

Improperly treated STDs can be easily spread, and the convenience and anonymity of asking a forum on the internet can make seeking unqualified advice more enticing than visiting a doctor. This is why doctors are worried about the rapid growth of these forums, as they may be leading to increased rates of STDs.

Medical malpractice is often associated with the dramatic scenarios of hospital dramas, whether it’s a drunk doctor amputating the wrong limb or a fraudulent practitioner blundering their way through a complicated surgery. However, in real life, medical malpractice is often a much more subtle and difficult-to-detect type of error. In fact, unless you’re a medical professional, you may not even know that a care provider has acted negligently in your care. One type of mistake makes up a significant portion of malpractice cases.

The Core Cause of Many Malpractice Cases

Malpractice is a huge source of legal expenses for clinics and hospitals, and consequently, a substantial amount of funding goes into research that uncovers the causes of malpractice. The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine conducted a study analyzing the root causes of many cases, and they discovered that one-third of errors occur due to misdiagnosis or a missed diagnosis.

There are a number of reasons that missed or incorrect diagnoses are so common. A missed diagnosis is often traced back to an overworked physician who either failed to run the correct tests or did not properly interpret a patient’s symptoms and test results. In other situations, an inexperienced doctor may be unsure about their diagnostic skills or worry about recommending unnecessary treatment. Taking a “wait and see” approach to medicine may make sense in some situations, but in others, it can have harmful or even fatal consequences.

A misdiagnosis, much like a missed diagnosis, often occurs because a care provider does not fully analyze available evidence. Patients who see multiple specialists may be at higher risk, since each specialist may not fully review other specialists’ notes before making a diagnosis.

Within this area of medical malpractice, the majority of cases can be further traced to three areas of medicine: cancer treatment, vascular events, and infections.

Expenses Associated with Malpractice

Upon exploring the medical specialties most prone to misdiagnosis, it’s easy to see why the expenses of a medical malpractice case can be staggeringly high. In all three types of cases—cancer, vascular, and infection—a missed diagnosis allows the disease or event to become significantly worse. As a result, treatment costs may be higher or a disease may progress to the point that it can no longer treated. Vascular events, for example, require a near-immediate response to protect a patient’s life and mobility. An untreated infection can lead to sepsis and ultimately death. If a doctor misses a cancer diagnosis, the cancer may spread rapidly enough that treatment is unlikely to succeed.

Successful medical malpractice cases often yield high settlements or judgments. Victims may be entitled to any money they paid the neglectful care practitioner, as well as any medical expenses resulting from health issues caused by the initial error. Victims may also receive money for lost income, lost future income, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and long-term care.

Legal Options for Victims of Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is an area of law that relies heavily on details and documentation. Poor care isn’t automatically negligent; an event must meet specific parameters to qualify as medical malpractice. Typically, the injured party must prove that the care provider acted in a way contrary to what any other similarly-trained provider would do in the same situation. Furthermore, laws regarding medical malpractice payouts vary quite a bit from state to state. If someone suspects that they or their loved one has been victimized by a negligent or malicious healthcare provider, it’s crucial to seek legal advice promptly, as the statute of limitations varies between states.

The medical field is one subject to constant scrutiny and research, leading to frequent changes in standards and expectations—and for good reason. When patients see a medical professional, whether it’s for something as minor as a checkup or as major as emergency surgery, they should be able to feel confident that their practitioner has the skills and decision-making capabilities to keep them safe. When this system breaks down, either due to a practitioner’s action or inaction, patients can seek compensation with a medical malpractice case. A recent medical malpractice case in the Boston area brought closure to a family that suffered due to a 10-year-old error.

Emergency Room Visit Leaves Family Without Answers

In April 2009, Anna Coelho was 18 months old. Her parents brought her to the emergency room with possible dehydration caused by vomiting. After performing a chest X-ray, radiologist Dr. William Denison gave his diagnosis—bronchiolitis or atypical pneumonia.

However, he didn’t identify Coelho’s underlying issue: an enlarged heart caused by myocarditis.  That is the basis of the Coelho family’s claim against Dr. William Denison.

Long-Term Impact on the Patient

Anna Coelho has experienced significant issues as a result of her untreated myocarditis. She suffered cardiac arrest and heart failure. Both of these issues led to severe, permanent neurological injury. Per her attorney, Coelho’s neurological injury has left the 11-year-old developmentally similar to a 4-year-old.

Negligence on the Part of the Radiologist

According to Coelho’s lawyer, Dr. Denison was negligent when he failed to identify Coelho’s enlarged heart. The jury agreed with Coelho’s attorney, who alleged that the harm suffered by Coelho was preventable and that the radiologist should have noticed her heart issue on the X-ray. The family received an award of $11.5 million, due to the lifelong nature of Coelho’s injuries and the long-term care she’ll likely need with her developmental issues.

Radiology in Medical Malpractice

This case highlights a number of important facts in the world of medical malpractice. Radiology is number 7 on the list of top 10 medical specialties for lawsuits, falling in line behind high-risk specialties like OB/GYN, surgery, and orthopedics. Per the report, 70% of radiologists are sued at some point during their career. Due to the extremely high rate of lawsuits in this and other specialties, practitioners pay exceptionally high malpractice insurance rates. As a result, patients are able to seek compensation when they do not receive appropriate care from care providers.

Additionally, this case has something in common with many other medical malpractice cases—it alleges a lack of action or attentiveness on the part of the doctor, not incorrect action. When many people think about medical malpractice, they think of alarming cases where a doctor removes the wrong limb, leaves medical supplies inside a patient, or operates on the incorrect patient. In reality, many cases involve patients whose symptoms were ignored by a doctor, patients who did not receive timely care from a practitioner, and patients whose doctors did not respond appropriately to the severity of their condition.

To determine whether or not a healthcare practitioner was negligent in their care, medical malpractice attorneys look at whether or not a patient would have received the same care from another reasonable medical provider under the same circumstances.

While this case did go to court, many are settled out of court. In many situations, a settlement benefits both the wronged patient and the negligent caregiver, minimizing the patient’s attorney fees and limiting the time spent in deliberations. In this case, the court case lasted two weeks and jury deliberations took an additional two days.