Medical malpractice is a common problem that every patient faces, and there is an increasing number of such trends which lead to serious injuries. Malpractice is of various forms, which can lead to severe injuries and illness, or sometimes, in the worst cases, it can lead to the death of a person.
In some cases, malpractice is only easily recognisable once the patient feels the pain after weeks or months. Medical practitioners such as doctors, nurses, and technicians are generally responsible for medical malpractice. There are several medical malpractice laws which deal with these unethical practices and how to help the patient to claim their compensation.
What are Common Forms of Medical Malpractice?
- Surgical Errors: There are various types of medical malpractice, and one of the important forms is surgical errors. If the doctor or medical official makes a mistake while doing surgery, it can lead to a threat to the patient. Some of the surgical error instances can be operating a wrong body part or failing to take care of the body part after surgery. So, if any of the surgical errors occur, which can cause severe pain and injury to the patient, it comes under medical malpractice.
- Medication Errors: There are healthcare professionals who can make errors in providing medications. Some of the important instances are that doctors might provide the wrong prescription of drugs or dosage. If the situation of a patient worsens after the drug consumption, then the patient has the right to hold the doctors responsible for their worsening condition.
- Diagnosis error: There are also instances when there is a diagnosis error. Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose the real problem can cause serious harm. In this case, if we take an example that if the doctors are unable to diagnose the fracture at the right time, it will increase the problem for the patient. Therefore, it is important to diagnose the problem at the right time to start its treatment.
- Birth Injuries: Birth injury also comes under medical malpractice when the doctors fail to use reasonable care while delivering a baby. It can cause injury to the baby or the mother, and therefore, this is a serious malpractice.
- Medical records error: In this malpractice, there is a mistake in making a record of the problem, and this leads to incorrect medication or dosage; therefore, it also comes under malpractice. Dosage error will cause seizure or internal damage, and therefore, doctors must be careful about it.
In this medical malpractice field, there are various forms which we need to understand, while at the same time, doctors should try to minimise them to save patients from suffering.