Personal Injury Law

Doctors Share Stories of Fatal Medical Mistakes

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Reader?s Digest published a story recently that attempted to put a human face on the medical errors that destroy families as well as medical careers. The publication recently asked doctors to discuss errors that they have made, describing how the error affected them and their future as hospital professionals.

For example, Dr. Peter Pronovost explains how he made an error in the middle of a 36-hour shift. He hadn?t slept in 24 hours and was forced to discharge patients from intensive care to make room for several new patients. The doctor decided to move one patient who had esophageal cancer, removing his breathing tube and transferring him to another unit. Following that mistake, a series of complications caused the doctor to quickly reinsert the breathing tube and in his panic he had trouble with the process.

In another case, Dr. Bryan E. Bledsoe explained a mistake he made that cost a woman her life. The error ultimately led him to become a proud advocate for patients? rights. He works to spread the message of health care safety, trying to teach physicians to treat patients with a personal touch.

As Bledsoe makes clear, ?Any physician who says he or she never made a mistake is a liar.?

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have worked with many families who have suffered heartbreaking loss due to medical mistakes. It is impossible to properly calculate the amount of lives affected when someone dies from medical errors. It is important to ensure that the public is kept aware of the problem. In that way the medical community is pressured to keep working toward eliminating the problems.

Please Click Here to read more doctors sharing their personal stories of mistakes in the hospital.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on September 19, 2010 (boomark / email).