Do you know who is treating you? Patients are often unaware that the professional treating them is not a physician. For example, a patient goes into a routine outpatient procedure under which they are sedated with anesthesia. The anesthesiologist M.D. greets the patient briefly and asks some history and may perform a short examination. This takes place after another professional, likely a C.R.N.A. certified nurse anesthetist and/or a nurse has taken a history from the patient. The M.D. does not do a real thorough job taking the history or performing an examination because he assumes this has been done by the nurse and/or C.R.N.A.
He is present to sedate the patient and once sedated, leaves the operating room giving control and supervision over to the C.R.N.A. The patient has no idea that this is taking place and that they are not being cared for by the M.D. If something goes wrong during the surgery with the anesthesia, the C.R.N.A. is allowed to use discretion to take care of the patient and may give more anesthesia without asking permission of the M.D. They do not have as much education and are not allowed by law to practice without the supervision of the M.D., but "supervision" is a loose term. What sometimes happens? The non-M.D. practitioner makes big mistakes which should not have been made and which injure the patient forever.
Another example are physician assistants who routinely treat patients in the E.R. The patient makes assumptions that the person giving the orders and treatment is a physician and does not know to inquire further. He is not aware that he is not being treated by a physician assistant and if he is, he is not aware of what that means. Specifically, he is not aware that the physician assistant is again loosely supervised by the physician in charge who may or may not look at the patient's chart until after, and in some cases, well after, the patient has been discharged. Then, it may be too late as for example, in a hypothetical case in which the patient presents to the E.R. for back pain, gets examined, treated, and ultimately discharged by a physician assistant who diagnoses back strain.
Turns out, the back pain was a symptom of a heart attack and the patient goes home and dies of another massive heart attack. At deposition, the physician will testify that he did nothing wrong and it was no breach to allow the physician assistant to make the decisions he did and for the physician to sign off on the chart days later, having never been aware of the patient or the treatment prior to his death!
"BUYER" BEWARE!
Renee C. Walsh is a Michigan attorney who has been practicing law for six years, over three in medical malpractice defense, and over two in the general practice of law. She is presently focusing on two websites, http://www.walshlawpllc.com and http://www.lawrefs.com both of which aim to provide helpful information and assistance to those in need. Renee's aims are virtuous as she is one of those rare non-jerk, non-arrogant attorneys, who has since elementary school days, been helping those in need. If you have legal questions email Renee at lawref@lawrefs.com and she will provide the response in her blog.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Renee_Walsh
Friday, July 13, 2007
The Drugs Prescribed to You May Do More Harm Than Good
According to a report published by the Institute of Medicine, at least 1.5 million Americans are injured, sickened, or killed each year due to prescription errors. These errors may be in the prescribing, dispensing or taking medications. Medical malpractice in the form of making errors in giving drugs to patients in hospitals is so common that, on average, a patient in a hospital will be subjected to a medication error each day he/she occupies a hospital bed.
Past studies have indicated that drug errors cause at least 400,000 preventable injuries and deaths in hospitals each year; more than 800,000 in nursing homes and other facilities for the elderly; and 530,000 among Medicare recipients treated in outpatient clinics.
In a response to a request made by Congress in 2003, the Institute, which is a branch of the National Academies, undertook the most extensive study of medication errors ever conducted. The report found errors to be not only harmful and sometimes fatal but very costly, also. The added expense of treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone is estimated to be nearly $3.5 billion a year.
The institute's report asserts that many of the medication errors could be avoided if doctors adopted electronic prescribing, if hospitals had a standardized bar-code system for checking and dispensing drugs, and if patients made more of an effort to know what drugs they are taking and what the risks of those drugs are.
Some of the most common errors include doctors writing prescriptions that could dangerously interact with other drugs the patient is already taking, nurses putting the wrong drug, or wrong dose, in an I.V., and pharmacists dispensing the wrong dosage of a pill.
One very disturbing finding in the study published by the Institute of Medicine found that hospitals and long-term facilities generally do not report errors to patients or family members unless they result in serious injury or death. Obviously, all medication errors need to be reported, not just those resulting in serious injury or death.
A few years ago in Leesburg, VA, there was a tragic case of a medication mistake that killed a five-year-old boy who had a minor bed-wetting problem. His doctor had prescribed a medication containing 50mg of imipramine per teaspoon; however, at the pharmacy, the 50mg was mistyped by a pharmacy technician as 250mg, five times the correct amount. The pharmacist didn't notice the error and filled the prescription as the technician had typed it. The boy's mother gave her son the medication as directed, and the next morning she found his cold, lifeless body in his bed.
Unless more attention is given to this horrific form of medical malpractice taking place all over our country, these mistakes will continue, and more and more people with minor medical problems will be injured or killed due to someone else's negligence.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed by a prescription or medication error in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida, please contact the experienced Medical Negligence Attorneys at Hardesty Tyde Green & Ashton, P.A.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lynn_Fugaro
Past studies have indicated that drug errors cause at least 400,000 preventable injuries and deaths in hospitals each year; more than 800,000 in nursing homes and other facilities for the elderly; and 530,000 among Medicare recipients treated in outpatient clinics.
In a response to a request made by Congress in 2003, the Institute, which is a branch of the National Academies, undertook the most extensive study of medication errors ever conducted. The report found errors to be not only harmful and sometimes fatal but very costly, also. The added expense of treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone is estimated to be nearly $3.5 billion a year.
The institute's report asserts that many of the medication errors could be avoided if doctors adopted electronic prescribing, if hospitals had a standardized bar-code system for checking and dispensing drugs, and if patients made more of an effort to know what drugs they are taking and what the risks of those drugs are.
Some of the most common errors include doctors writing prescriptions that could dangerously interact with other drugs the patient is already taking, nurses putting the wrong drug, or wrong dose, in an I.V., and pharmacists dispensing the wrong dosage of a pill.
One very disturbing finding in the study published by the Institute of Medicine found that hospitals and long-term facilities generally do not report errors to patients or family members unless they result in serious injury or death. Obviously, all medication errors need to be reported, not just those resulting in serious injury or death.
A few years ago in Leesburg, VA, there was a tragic case of a medication mistake that killed a five-year-old boy who had a minor bed-wetting problem. His doctor had prescribed a medication containing 50mg of imipramine per teaspoon; however, at the pharmacy, the 50mg was mistyped by a pharmacy technician as 250mg, five times the correct amount. The pharmacist didn't notice the error and filled the prescription as the technician had typed it. The boy's mother gave her son the medication as directed, and the next morning she found his cold, lifeless body in his bed.
Unless more attention is given to this horrific form of medical malpractice taking place all over our country, these mistakes will continue, and more and more people with minor medical problems will be injured or killed due to someone else's negligence.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed by a prescription or medication error in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida, please contact the experienced Medical Negligence Attorneys at Hardesty Tyde Green & Ashton, P.A.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lynn_Fugaro
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