Medical Error Resources
The Most Common Medical Errors
What are the most common medical errors?
Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, after cancer and heart disease. According to a Johns Hopkins study , medical mistakes kill more than 250,000 people every year. These numbers are scary for patients who quite literally place their lives in the hands of medical professionals every day.
Even in the best hospitals in the country, mistakes can happen. But, that doesn’t mean you should avoid getting necessary medical treatment for fear of something going wrong. Instead, equip yourself with knowledge. Be aware of the most common types of preventable medical errors:
1. Misdiagnosis
Error in diagnosis is a common medical error. Incorrect diagnosis can result in unnecessary or harmful treatment. A wrong diagnosis also means that the patient’s true illness won’t be treated right away, if at all, prolonging the patient’s suffering.
2. Delayed Diagnosis
A delayed diagnosis can be as detrimental as a misdiagnosis. A delay in diagnosis can prevent the patient from getting necessary treatment in a timely manner.
3. Medication Error
One of the most common mistakes that occurs in the course of medical treatment is an error in medication. Prescribing the wrong dose, or failing to account for drug interactions can have detrimental effects for the patient. Prescribers and caregivers must carefully consider a patient’s medical history to watch for allergies and potentially harmful drug combinations before administering medicine. If they fail to do so, or if information is left off of a patient’s chart, the consequences can be very serious.
4. Infection
Infection is a risk of almost any hospital stay or medical procedure. Most hospital infections are not serious and can be treated. However, some infections can become much more serious and even deadly.
5. Bad medical devices
Oftentimes, a medical mistake isn’t a mistake at all, but rather the result of an unsafe medical device . Even if your doctor does everything right, she can’t protect you from a malfunctioning or defective tool. In these cases, the doctor or caregiver is not to blame; the manufacturer of the defective device bears responsibility. Devices such as IVC blood clot filters, hernia mesh, Stryker hip implants, Bair Hugger surgical warming blankets, and countless other medical tools and products have been known to fail and cause serious harm.
While these are some of the most common mistakes, any number of errors in medical care can have serious consequences for patients.
Protect yourself and your loved ones from medical mistakes
The potential for medical error shouldn’t stop you or your family from getting the care you need. The good news is that most medical mistakes are preventable.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If possible, bring someone else with you, a friend or family member, to help you. Write everything down – your medications, allergies, previous doctors and health issues, and any questions you may have. When you’re being discharged from the hospital, make sure you ask your doctor to explain your home care and recovery pr
10 Medical Errors That Changed the Standard of Care
www.medscape.com › features › slideshow › med-errors
Analysis
Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
BMJ 2016; 353 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2139 (Published 03 May 2016)Cite this as: BMJ 2016;353:i2139
Analysis
Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
BMJ 2016; 353 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2139 (Published 03 May 2016)Cite this as: BMJ 2016;353:i2139
· Article
· Metrics
1. Martin A Makary, professor1 ,
2. Michael Daniel, research fellow1
1. Correspondence to: M A Makary [email protected]
Medical error is not included on death certificates or in rankings of cause of death. Martin Makary and Michael Daniel assess its contribution to mortality and call for better reporting
The annual list of the most common causes of death in the United States, compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), informs public awareness and national research priorities each year. The list is created using death certificates filled out by physicians, funeral directors, medical examiners, and coroners. However, a major limitation of the death certificate is that it relies on assigning an International Classification of Disease (ICD) code to the cause of death.1 As a result, causes of death not associated with an ICD code, such as human and system factors, are not captured. The science of safety has matured to describe how communication breakdowns, diagnostic errors, poor judgment, and inadequate skill can directly result in patient harm and death. We analyzed the scientific literature on medical error to identify its contribution to US deaths in relation to causes listed by the CDC.2
Death from medical care itself
Medical error has been defined as an unintended act (either of omission or commission) or one that does not achieve its intended outcome,3 the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended (an error of execution), the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (an error of planning),4 or a deviation from the process of care that may or may not cause harm to the patient.5 Patient harm from medical error can occur at the individual or system level. The taxonomy of errors is expanding to better categorize preventable factors and events.6 We focus on preventable lethal events to highlight the scale of potential for improvement.
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