Austin Medical Malpractice Blog

One expectation that many patients have is for their surgeons and physicians to inform them about mistakes that occur during before, during and after their procedures that may affect them. Surgical errors affect many people in Austin and across the country. Surgeons, physicians, nurses and other surgical health care professionals do not always disclose their negligent actions to patients, although the law require them to. 

The medical industry refers to surgical errors as never-events because they should not occur. Surgical mistakes often have profound consequences for patients. Besides the risk of infection, surgical complications, organ and brain damage, and other life- and health-altering complications, victims and their families are often left with substantial medical expenses. Here is a brief rundown on the dangers of surgical errors. 

People in Texas may be worried about being the victim of a misdiagnosis or the failure to diagnose a progressive, serious illness like cancer when they go visit the doctor or enter a hospital for treatment. The consequences of a wrong diagnosis or a doctor error can be serious because the disease can progress and become deadly or difficult to treat in the interim. For health institutions concerned about patient care and liability, cutting down on the number of diagnostic errors can be a major priority.

When scanning for bone density, the use of data entry software in the radiology department can help prevent medical errors, especially in ultrasound and dual-energy X-ray (DEXA) radiology. The software can also help health facilities save time and money while reducing misdiagnoses. A study found that when the software is used, up to $1 million in radiologists' salaries can be saved over a five-year period. According to research that was carried out at the University of Colorado, 6 to 28 percent of all DEXA and ultrasound radiology reports contain data entry errors. While the errors may be simple or minor, they can lead to real problems, especially when they are included as part of an incorrect diagnosis of a patient's conditions.

Every year in Texas and across the U.S., more than 250,000 people die as a result of medication errors. Despite advances in technology that allow for digital record keeping, nurses and other health care professionals continue to make life-altering mistakes, most of which are preventable. Many errors are revealed in patients' charts and other documents.

The number one mistake is the failure to craft and enter information. For instance, nurses may fail to write down whether a patient suffers from allergies or some chronic health condition. Drug allergies are especially important to note. Many nurses also fail to take down the reactions that patients have to certain drugs. This means patients may not receive the proper care if a condition worsens.

For some Texas heart attack patients, conservative treatment that involves allowing the body to heal by itself may be the most helpful course of action. This is especially true for spontaneous coronary artery dissection or SCAD, most frequently experienced by young women; in this type of heart attack, a sudden tear happens inside an artery, leading to the incident. This is unlike typical heart attacks, which occur due to the results of a lifetime of plaque building up in the arteries. Researching physicians said that treating the two types of heart attacks in the same way can be detrimental.

However, in order to determine the best course of response to a heart attack, a correct diagnosis is critical. SCAD was little understood until 2010; more recent research has indicated that on average, SCAD patients are women between the ages of 45 and 53, often with few other risk factors for heart disease. Doctors have noted that misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis of SCAD is a common occurrence, despite being the top cause of heart attacks among women under 50 as well as the primary cause of heart attacks during pregnancy and childbirth.