The last analysis regarding an estimate of patient injury associated with hospital care was conducted in 1999. The study was based on data from 1984 and was completed by the Institute of Medicine. It concluded that almost 98,000 people died each year because of medical error. However, a more up-to-date analysis was recently completed using data from 2008 to 2011.

Led by Dr. John T. James, in conjunction with Patient Safety America, the new study found that a minimum of 210,000 people die each year from preventable medical mistakes. But the study’s author says that number is probably closer to 400,000 deaths every year. The study also found that “serious harm” to patients was 10 to 20 more common that “lethal harm.”

The research team reviewed files from four different studies to determine if a patient adverse event (PAE) had occurred. They then took the PAEs (preventable adverse events) and divided them up into five categories.

• Commission errors;
• Omission errors;
• Communication errors;
• Context errors; and
• Diagnosis errors.

Those events that went into the commission group were events that were easily identifiable as something medical personnel did that should not have been done. This is where the 210,000 number was developed from and why the researchers put the actual number closer to 400,000—the number of events contained in the other four categories.

The study addresses several areas that should be examined as contributing factors to the severe spikes in PAEs. Those areas include:

• Misuse and overuse of medication;
• Complex and complicated medical technology;
• Too much focus on high-revenue treatments and procedures; and
• Lack of good record keeping.

Other studies have shown that many physicians do not report PAEs. One study in particular found that two–thirds of the cardiologists surveyed had recently not reported events they were aware had occurred. Dr. James writes in his report that not only do hospitals need to address the changes needed to stop these preventable medical errors, but patients too must become more involved in their own treatment.

If you suffered an injury caused by a preventable medical error due to another’s medical negligence, contact an experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney to find out what financial compensation you may be entitled to for pain and loss.

Headlines about surgical tools being left in a patient’s body, or babies born with birth defects due to a hospital’s negligence, are attention-grabbing. However, a quieter and perhaps more deadly type of malpractice is most common—misdiagnosis.

According to Fox News, a study examining “medical malpractice claims against primary care doctors in the United States, Australia, France, and Canada found that between 26 and 63 percent of claims were related to missed diagnoses.” It is important to note that malpractice claims are different than the actual number of incidents as claims are allegations brought against the doctor by the affected patient or bereaved family. According to Fox News, about two-thirds of medical malpractice claims filed in the United States are thrown out by a court and not awarded.

The most common outcome in a medical malpractice claim was death of the patient. Not surprisingly, a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose cancer was the number one reason for the claim: specifically breast, colon, melanoma, and lung cancer. A failure to diagnose meningitis in children was high on the list, as was a failure to recognize a heart attack in adults. Though many of these claims are thrown out, by some estimates the number of such incidents could be much higher than the claims suggest. Many patients who experience adverse side effects do not recognize them as medical malpractice and do not file.

A doctor at the California-based malpractice insurer The Doctors Company told Fox that suits can help doctors recognize where diagnoses are being missed, and alert them to the possibility of atypical symptoms. Many claims were filed in recent years regarding cases of heart attacks in women. By studying these claims, doctors were able to learn more about how to detect the possibility of heart attacks in women, and share this information with other doctors. “Ultimately [the process of analyzing malpractice claims] can contribute to improving the quality of medical practice,” the doctor told Fox.

If you or someone you know has been negatively affected by a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose in Connecticut, the most important step is to seek the counsel of a Westport medical malpractice attorney. Contact the law offices of Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, for a free initial consultation today.

Surgical errors are more common in the U.S. than one may think. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published a report stating how just less than 100,000 people in the U.S. died every year from medical mistakes. However, according to a report issued by the Journal of Patient Safety and as reported by Propublica.org, that number is now estimated between 210,000 and 440,00 patients each year.

The estimate includes patients who suffer any type of preventable harm such as misdiagnosis, surgical error, and patient mix-up. Propublica.org notes how this “would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America,” third only to cancer and heart disease (the second and first leading cause of death in the U.S., respectively). Surgical errors are often the most serious of medical mistakes, because they are often irreversible mistakes that result in death.

An article in Medical News Today states how events that should never occur during surgery are known in the industry as “never events,” but these events occur far more often than never. Findings published in Surgery (as reported by Medical News Today) report more than 4,000 “never-events” happening each year in the U.S. And between 1990 and 2010, there were more than 80,000 of these across the country.

Examples of surgical error include extremely severe and identifiable mistakes such as a surgeon leaving a tool inside a patient’s body. By some estimates this happens about 39 times a week. Other surgical errors include a doctor operating on a wrong body part, or performing the wrong surgery. This happens less often, but still at a staggering estimate of 20 times each week. Malpractice claims arising from incidents of surgical error have cost the medical industry more than $1.3 billion between 1990 and 2010, according to Medical News Today.

Submitting a medical malpractice claim can be a long and arduous process. If you suspect that you have been a victim of medical malpractice or surgical error in Connecticut, the most important first step is to seek the counsel of a malpractice attorney. Contact a Westport medical malpractice attorney for a free initial consultation today.