A hospital can be a chaotic environment: it is very fast-paced and the decisions that are made have serious ramifications. When the wrong choices are made, patients can be significantly harmed. People pass away every year due to medical malpractice, while others are left with severe injuries or even disabilities.
Certainly, the environment itself plays something of a role here. Mistakes happen when everything is happening quickly and there’s not that much time to be careful. But you may want to take a look at some of the other reasons why doctors may make errors and how these can impact you:
They are understaffed
Many hospitals are understaffed, meaning that they simply don’t have enough people to do all of the jobs that are necessary. As a result, there can be delays in treatment or someone may try to perform a task that they’re not necessarily trained for.
There is nothing that individual medical professionals can do about a hospital or medical center being understaffed, but they still have an obligation to provide excellent care to the patients that they do treat.
They are burned out
Another potential problem is that doctors tend to get burned out. They have a very stressful job, they often work long hours and they may have to work in the middle of the night or at other inopportune times.
Doctor burnout can happen when this all becomes overwhelming: The doctor may not be able to pay as much attention; They may feel fatigued; They may get distracted; Or, they may just make other mistakes.
If you’ve been injured by one of these mistakes or if you’ve lost a loved one, be sure you know what steps to take.