A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 1 in 5 deaths in US hospitals are the result of doctor errors.
A study published last month in the journal JAMA examined 2019 medical records from nearly 2,500 patients in 29 different American hospitals.
All of the patients were transported to the intensive care unit (ICU), died while hospitalized, or both.
Such medical errors are very often designated as “NEVER” events that should not happen because they are so blatant and are the result of a failure to follow proper medical protocols. These “Never events” refers to a particular subset of adverse events that are considered the most egregious of healthcare-related errors, such as performing surgery on the wrong side or administering the wrong blood type in a transfusion.
The researchers found that 23 percent of these patients were misdiagnosed or received a delayed diagnosis. And nearly 18 percent of them died or suffered other serious harm.
The findings align with other stark findings, which show that over a quarter of a million Americans die every year after being misdiagnosed in the emergency room.
If you or a loved one have suffered from a misdiagnosis or serious medical error that has caused serious harm to your health, please contact our firm for a free initial consultation.
