New York patients might have prescription medications that have not been approved by the FDA to treat the condition they’ve been prescribed for. This is called off-label drug use, and though it is legal and somewhat common, patients could benefit from understanding how off-label drug use works and knowing which of their own medications may have been prescribed this way.
One in every seven Medicare patients in hospitals succumbs to a medical error. In 1999, it was reported that 98,000 patients in hospitals across the US were dying from a medical error! Today, decades later, in times where we have access to world class medical technology and expertise, the number of deaths each year from preventable errors in hospitals has sky-rocketed to a whopping 440,000!
When ill people go to a New York hospital, they probably do so with the expectation that the treatment will help improve their conditions. In some cases, however, mistakes are made that lead to serious harm.
New York City residents may have access to some of the best medical professionals in the world, but even the best doctors can sometimes make mistakes. Some serious diseases, including some specific types of cancer, can be difficult to diagnose because they have few or no symptoms in the early stages when they are the most treatable.
A New York mother was awarded $50 million after she sued her obstetrician for injuries she suffered during a 2009 childbirth. In addition to suffering tissue lacerations, the woman was given an unnecessary episiotomy that did not heal correctly. The woman’s digestive system was also damaged. There should not have been any complications with her second childbirth.
