Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The misconception of "medical error"
Adverse events are not necessarily caused by medical error:One problem physicians face, Dr. Gallagher said, is that patients may fail to distinguish errors from unavoidable medical problems.
"I think that often patients assume that any adverse event is due to error," he said. "That’s not so. A vast majority of such events are not errors and not preventable."
Posted by Kevin |
link
| Comments (3)
| 
Comments:
Leaving a sponge in a surgical patient? Reading a blood panel result incorrectly? These are errors. It should be a felony to have knowledge of such errors and not report them.
# posted by 
: 4:28 PM
: 4:28 PM
"Leaving a sponge in a surgical patient? Reading a blood panel result incorrectly? "
These are the RARE EXceptions. Like a plane taking off from the wrong runway causing a crash. Most lawsuits are due to bad outcomes. Or stupidity. Most docs don't realize you should admit every patient that comes to the ER with chest pain, not because it's medically necessary, but because if you discharge them, they will go out and use cocaine again, and you will be responsible if they crash. I admit them just to keep them from using afterwards when my name is on their chart. And I'm still getting sued for one of these.
These are the RARE EXceptions. Like a plane taking off from the wrong runway causing a crash. Most lawsuits are due to bad outcomes. Or stupidity. Most docs don't realize you should admit every patient that comes to the ER with chest pain, not because it's medically necessary, but because if you discharge them, they will go out and use cocaine again, and you will be responsible if they crash. I admit them just to keep them from using afterwards when my name is on their chart. And I'm still getting sued for one of these.
# posted by : 8:52 PM
: 8:52 PM
On the statement "One problem physicians face, Dr. Gallagher said, is that patients may fail to distinguish errors from unavoidable medical problems". Maybe so, but before a lawsuit can be filed, at least here is Florida, a physician must review the medical records and state that an error was committed that resulted in below-the-standard of care treatment and possible injury. So once again, we have a case of doctors NOT policing doctors. Patients may think they've been hurt, but they must have medical backup to say so. The next step is the attorney who has access to stables and stables of physicians who will provide them with the affidavits showing that a medical error occurred, whether it did or didn't, in some cases. The responsibility of medical errors falls upon the physician, both in the making and the review confirming the error. Patients can't do that!
Post a Comment
# posted by : 5:41 AM
: 5:41 AM
