By some accounts—such as a 2013 study published in the Journal of Patient Safety – medical malpractice causes preventable harm to patients more than 400,000 times per year. While lethal harm is less common, this number is unacceptable and bewildering; why are so many patients in the U.S. the victims of medical malpractice? What is going wrong in the health care system?
The answer may be one with a simple solution: communication errors.
Communication Errors and Medical Malpractice
A breakdown in communication may be a root cause behind acts of medical malpractice. These communication errors occur between patients and their physicians, physicians and other physicians, nurses and physicians, and other hospital or clinical staff members. Communication errors can occur as a result of overstaffing, poor documentation on a patient’s chart, and lack of time-outs or pre-treatment meetings. Most of these are correctable with policy changes within a hospital and a health care professional spending more time with a patient and exercising more care in detailing patients’ medical issues.
When a Communication Error Leads to Patient Harm
While the good news about communication errors is that they are both preventable and correctable, the bad news is that a communication error may lead to a serious degree of patient harm. A communication error can lead to a wide array of other error types, including:
- Medication errors;
- Diagnostic errors;
- Anesthesia errors;
- Treatment errors; and
- Surgical errors.
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All of the error types listed above can have fatal consequences. A person who in not treated in a timely manner for a health condition—such as a man who suffering from a heart attack and did not receive treatment in time due to a communication error, leading to his death, according to an article in the Northwest Herald—may die or see his or her adverse condition progress. Or, a person who receives the wrong medication may have an adverse reaction, which could be serious. A surgical error is one of the most significant types of medical malpractice, and may include operating on the wrong patient or the wrong body part, all because the doctor and his staff did not communicate properly.
Filing a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit for Communication Errors in Illinois
It is not enough to demonstrate that a communication error occurred in order to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Rather, you must demonstrate that the error led to an act of harm from which you suffered, and that you incurred actual damages as a direct result. For example, you could file a lawsuit for a communication error that resulted in your cancer not being diagnosed, if the lack of diagnosis led to the cancer’s proliferation and the decline of your health.
Contact an Illinois Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
Serving Western Springs, LaGrange, LaGrange Park, Westchester, Brookfield, Countryside, and Indian Head Park, experienced Illinois medical malpractice lawyer Mary Ann Covone Attorney at Law is ready to represent you. To learn more about your rights following an act of malpractice, how to file a claim, how to prove malpractice, and the damages that you may recover, contact Mary Ann Covone Attorney at Law for a free case consultation today. Call 708-246-4911.