When you feel unlike yourself, you may count on your doctor to determine what is wrong with you and what you need to do to feel better. However, a doctor’s ability to help make you feel better depends on his or her ability to make a correct diagnosis in the first...
Is the failure to diagnose medical malpractice?
When a person has an illness and clear symptoms of that illness, they expect that a competent medical professional will be able to diagnose them quickly and to begin treatment. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes medical professionals do not dedicate...
Common emergency room errors
When you arrive at an emergency room, you expect to receive prompt and professional care. If that doesn’t happen, your current and future health is at risk. While most emergency room visits go off without hitch, there are times when mistakes are made. And depending on...
Study says misdiagnosis happens often with certain medical issues
People in Iowa who are concerned about a medical issue will do what they perceive to be the right thing and go to the doctor. A key to the proper treatment of a medical problem is an accurate diagnosis. While it is understandable that certain illnesses and conditions...
Misdiagnosis is leading cause of medical malpractice claims
A new study says as many as 80,000 people die each year in U.S. hospitals as a result of diagnostic errors. Additionally, misdiagnoses related to the “Big Three” diseases – cancer, infections and vascular disease – account for three out of every four malpractice...
Medical malpractice statistics from 2009 to 2018
Iowa residents may be surprised to learn that in the US, medical malpractice ranks as the third-leading cause of death. Data collected from the years 2009 to 2018 shows that more than 250,000 people die every year because of negligence on the part of medical...
How patients can protect themselves from common medical errors
Iowa readers may be surprised to learn that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. However, patients can reduce their risk of harm by educating themselves and learning to spot the situations where medical mistakes are more likely to...
The five most frequent nursing errors
In Iowa and across the U.S., nurses must face a stressful work environment, and this can cause them to lose focus and make mistakes. The following are the five most common errors made by nurses both new and experienced. First are medication errors. Nurses are liable...
Establishing causation in medical malpractice lawsuits
When Iowa residents take legal action after suffering injury, loss or damage due to the negligent actions of doctors or hospitals, they must convince the jury of two things to be successful. They must first establish that the medical care they received was not up to...
Improving medication list accuracy with training
Many patients in Iowa are victims of medical malpractice due to medication errors. In a recent study, researchers found that medication reconciliation training reduces errors when it comes to medication lists. Physician assistant researchers at the University of...
