What are Some of the Most Dangerous Medical Errors

If you are like most people, you count on your family physician, surgeon, dentist, and specialist to all provide the highest standard of care for medical issues large and small. Unfortunately, doctors and hospitals are not infallible, and even esteemed medical establishments and practitioners can make mistakes. To learn more about medical malpractice and medical injuries, review this guide to the most dangerous types of medical mistakes.

General Misdiagnosis
The most common kind of medical malpractice results from a diagnostic error. An incorrect diagnosis can cause a delay in administering treatment, and the results can be deadly.

Obstetrical Malpractice
Obstetrical malpractice refers to birth injuries that result from medical negligence. Physicians may fail to respond properly to bleeding or fetal distress, may inappropriately delay ordering a C-section, and may even misuse a vacuum extractor or forceps. Poor newborn care after birth also qualifies as medical malpractice. Sadly, this form of medical malpractice can result in lifelong neurological problems, cerebral palsy, blindness, and learning deficits.

Medication Errors
Medication mistakes take place in a hospital when a nurse or doctor administers the wrong medication to a patient or fails to provide the patient’s regular medication. Because many people rely on daily prescriptions to manage chronic conditions, the results of medical malpractice can be severe.

Grievous Mistakes
Sadly, some mistakes are simply so shocking that they defy reason. Common examples include leaving sponges, scissors, and other tools in patients’ bodies after surgery, operating on the wrong patient, and amputating the incorrect limb. While rare, such instances of medical malpractice do occur.

When you work with a medical malpractice lawyer, you deserve to have an experienced, trustworthy, and reliable attorney. At the Law Office of Pegalis & Erickson, we are proud to be the winner of two of the highest medical malpractice awards in the state of New York. Our medical malpractice attorneys have more than 40 years of experience representing Long Island area victims and their families after medical or birth injuries. You can find out more by calling us today at (516) 684-2900.