Personal Injury Law

Doctors Using Medical Malpractice Claims to Help Avoid Future Mistakes

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

The Wall Street Journal wrote this week about the encouraging way that many doctors are using medical malpractice claims to understand their previous mistakes and learn from them.

Medical professionals are increasingly examining the lawsuits that are filed alleging improper care in order to understand the ways in which the mistakes are frequently made. In that way, researchers are capable of focusing their efforts into the areas that most need improvement.

Specifically, the data reveals that as many as 40% of malpractice claims involve diagnosis errors?missed, delayed, or incorrect diagnoses. Cancer misdiagnoses represent one of the most common, and damaging forms of error. Somewhere in the area of 40-80,000 patients are killed each year because of these types of medical mistakes. However, eliminating these diagnostic mistakes will not be a quick or easy task.

One professional explains that improving diagnoses, ?will require a focus on larger system failures, such as preventing lab results for getting lost and developing checklists to help doctors distinguish between, say, a ?low risk? headache and a ?high risk? headache.?

Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti continue to believe that an important relationship can exist between the claims of medical mistakes and the doctors who are working to improve patient care. In the end, the goal is permanent improvement in the care provided to all patients at all hospitals. Until we reach the point where malpractice is a thing of the past, it is vital to preserve the rights of injured patients and learn from their suffering.

To read more about the positive outcomes that can grow from previous mistakes, please Click Here.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on September 29, 2010 (boomark / email).