A quarter of a million people die each year due to medical errors in the USA. It is the third biggest cause of death behind heart disease and cancer, according to a report by John Hopkins Medicine.
While anyone can make a mistake, if someone is working in a hospital, their errors can be fatal. They have people’s lives in their hands. Most medical staff work hard and do the best they can. They work to save lives, not lose them.
Medical malpractice is complicated to define and hard to prove. Sometimes it is about showing the hospital was negligent. Sometimes it is about establishing the surgeon took a decision that most surgeons would not make in the same circumstances.
Common causes of death by medical malpractice
- Giving someone the wrong prescription
- Giving someone the wrong dose of anesthesia
- Removing the wrong organ
- Leaving a medical instrument inside the body after surgery
- Getting the diagnosis wrong and treating the patient for something else
- Spreading infection by failing to meet hygiene standards
Hospitals and clinics should have medical malpractice insurance to cover when things do go wrong. So you do not need to feel bad about claiming against a nurse or doctor who was trying to do their best.
If you have suspicions about the reason that someone in your family died in medical care, you may want to investigate. While you cannot bring the person back from the dead, knowing the real reason for their death can help you find peace. It may also prevent someone else from dying needlessly.