7 Common Medical Errors Warranting Medical Malpractice Claims

When you trust a healthcare provider for medical services, you expect to receive the best possible care. Sadly, this doesn’t always happen. Whether through malicious intention or neglectful error, patients are harmed at the hands of doctors every day.

What is Medical Malpractice?

Healthcare professionals have a duty to care for their patients to the best of their ability. Any direct action or lack of action that harms the patient could be deemed medical malpractice.

Examples of Medical Malpractice

Here are seven of the most common instances of medical errors that warrant filing a medical malpractice claim:

1. Misdiagnosis: Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, and delayed diagnosis may occur if a doctor fails to order the proper diagnostic tests or misinterprets the test results. The ensuing delay in care could have detrimental effects.
2. Prescription error: Prescribing the wrong medication or incorrect dosage is considered a prescription error. Nurses who administer the incorrect drug or dosage and pharmacists who give customers the wrong medication should also be held accountable.
3. Surgical error: Any patient who goes under the knife puts their life in the surgeon’s hands. Therefore, any surgical errors that occur—such as puncturing an internal organ, failing to treat intraoperative complications, administering too much anesthesia, or using inappropriate tools during a laparoscopy—warrant filing a medical malpractice claim.
4. Birth injury: Mistakes in the obstetric branch of medicine can have serious consequences for women and babies during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. You have the right to file a medical malpractice claim if any birth injuries occur because your doctor made an error.
5. Failure to obtain informed consent: You should have a chance to weigh the benefits and risks of any medical procedure or treatment before agreeing to it. Therefore, your doctor must explain them to you and highlight any alternatives available. Failure to do so exhibits a lack of informed consent and could result in unauthorized treatment.
6. Nursing home error: Older adults deserve to be cared for by a kind, compassionate team of nursing home staff. Abuse, whether by an individual or an entire corporation, may result in nursing home injuries. Examples include medication errors, physical or emotional abuse, lack of fall-prevention safeguards, and financial exploitation.
7. Defective medical device: Skewed or incomplete data from medical device companies may allow them to erroneously receive FDA approval. The ineffective process permits the sale of dangerous medical products, which don’t cease until patients are seriously or fatally injured.

Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim in New Jersey

Do you believe your doctor, surgeon, nurse, anesthesiologist, or other healthcare provider deviated from the accepted standard while providing care? If so, you have the right to seek compensation for your pain and suffering.

Gelman Gelman Wiskow & McCarthy LLC would be happy to explore your case. Our medical malpractice attorneys in New Jersey have represented injured patients since our founding in 1950. Call us at 862-263-0770 or contact us online to schedule a free, one-hour consultation. A Spanish translator is available upon request.