Medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Only heart disease and cancer kill more people than errors made by doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, pharmacists and other medical and health care professionals. Doctors and medical personnel are human and human beings make mistakes. Hospitals, doctors' offices, surgical centers and other medical settings have procedures to prevent errors from occurring; but errors do happen, despite the medical profession's efforts.
Medical errors cause an estimated 98,000 deaths in America each year according to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. An additional 1.5 million patients are harmed by medication errors. In fact, one in five Americans will be victimized by a medical error of some type as some point in their lifetime. Preventable patient injuries caused by medical mistakes cost Americans more than $30 billion every year.
The complexity of medicine is fraught with opportunities for errors that can cause irreparable harm to patients. Changes in treatment standards, drug names that sound alike, indecipherable handwriting on charts or prescriptions or a missed decimal point can have serious consequences for patients. Staff cutbacks initiated to offset decreasing hospital revenues due to the recession have placed even more strain on overworked nurses and health care workers. Inadequate staffing levels exacerbate fatigue increasing the likelihood of medical mistakes.
When mistakes are made that injure a patient because the doctor failed to correctly treat or diagnose a medical condition or the hospital staff failed to properly carry out treatment, a case can be made for medical malpractice. If you or someone you love has been injured by a medical error, you should immediately contact the experienced Philadelphia medlical malpractice lawyers at Rosenbaum & Associates. Medical malpractice is a highly specialized field that demands expert knowledge. Rosenbaum & Associates have more than 25 years successfully litigating medical malpractice claims in Pennsylvania. Contact Rosenbaum & Associates today for a free case evaluation.
