A medical mistake or error is when a doctor, nurse, hospital or other medical facility or individual delivers inappropriate care, or provides care in a way that is improper. A never event is one that the medical community agrees should never happen. If you suffered injuries as a result of a medical mistake in Philadelphia.
Medical Mistakes Can Cause Deaths or Serious Injury
Tens of thousands of Americans die each year due to preventable medical mistakes. Hundreds of thousands are injured, even seriously harmed, due to these medical errors. In fact, preventable medical errors are the 6th leading cause of deaths in the United States.
“Never Events”
A “never event” is a form of medical mistake that never should happen in a hospital. Yet these kinds of errors occur at staggering rates. These sort of events include:
- Wrong Site Surgery (operating on the wrong location on a patient’s body)
- Wrong Side Surgery (such operating on the left arm instead of the right arm)
- Wrong Patient Surgery (performing an operation on one patient that should have been performed on a different person)
- Wrong Procedure (performing a completely incorrect procedure on a patient.)
How can these “never events” occur? Most likely because of improper paperwork, failure to communicate, failure to pay attention, and other basic failures of a hospital’s system. It is crucial that hospitals, doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals and staff do everything possible to prevent these medical errors. Patients’ lives and well-being literally count on it.
Contact an Attorney Following a Medical Mistake in Philadelphia
If you or a loved one was injured due to a medical mistake in Philadelphia, please contact the injury lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, Injury Attorneys to discuss your rights. We have both an attorney/doctor and attorney/nurse on staff who can rapidly review your case. There is no charge for a consultation and no fee unless you recover.