While New Yorkers likely have trusting relationships with their doctors, there are certain times when they should seek second opinions to make certain that the diagnosis or treatment regimen that has been proposed is appropriate. Health care practitioners sometimes make diagnostic or treatment mistakes, which can cause serious repercussions for patients.
Medical errors can cover a wide variety of situations. The wrong medication dose could be given to a patient, or a nick from a scalpel during surgery could cause internal bleeding or neurological injury. Surprisingly, the majority of errors take place in connection with visits to a physician’s office rather than in the context of hospital stays. However, the number of such errors annually makes this the third leading cause of death in the nation. New York healthcare professionals may need to consider some important issues related to medical errors in order to turn the statistical tide.
Workers in New York hospitals might make errors because of confusion about patient identities. When the ECRI Institute analyzed 7,613 wrong-patient incidents voluntarily supplied by 181 health care organizations around the country, patient identification errors took place at all levels, including among physicians, nurses, transporters, lab technicians and pharmacists.
New York residents might be interested to know that the 2016 Americas Hernia Society shed light on ways for medical professionals to better diagnosis inguinal hernias found in the small and large bowels of patients. CT scans diagnosed only seven percent of occult hernias and 25 percent of palpable inguinal hernias while MRIs found 33 percent of occult hernias and 41 percent of palpable hernias.
New York residents may be interested to learn that roughly 20 years ago, a surgeon from South Dakota lied during a medical malpractice case. The doctor was called to provide testimony that would establish that his colleague was a skilled surgeon. The case in question involved a patient of that colleague who suffered a stroke after undergoing a procedure performed by the defendant in the case.
