In 2014, the total amount in medical malpractice payouts in the United States was $3,891,743,050. 40% of these payouts were in outpatient incidents while 46% were for inpatient cases. The total payment percentage by gender was 53% ($2,076,790,450) for female patients and 45% ($1,752,854,350) for male patients.
New York patients who are scheduled to have a surgery that uses computers to assist in the procedure may be interested to learn that in February, a patient’s heart surgery was stopped for five minutes when a computer began doing an automatic virus check. Although the patient, who was sedated at the time, was not harmed, the incident does highlight the vulnerability of such systems to errors that could potentially be life-threatening.
Thousands of people in the United States are affected by dental malpractice each year. According to the American Board of Legal Medicine, 13.1% of all claims for professional malpractice are filed against dentists. Other statistics show that in any one year, 1.6% of dentists will face a civil malpractice lawsuit. Some of the top negligence categories include:
According to the CDC, traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is one of the major causes of death in the United States, contributing to approximately 30% of all deaths caused by injury. 138 people in the country die every day from injuries including TBI. In 2010, TBI resulted in about 25 million emergency department visits, hospitalizations, or deaths. In most cases, concussions are caused by sports. The CDC reports that the number of reported concussions has more than doubled in the last decade. 3,800,000 concussions were reported in 2012. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, concussion-related emergency room visits for children aged 8 to 13
Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. The fatality rate in this industry is 39 times higher than the national average. Man overboard fatalities are the second leading cause of death among workers in professional fishing nationwide. Between 2000 and 2014, 210 fishermen died after falling overboard from their vessel. None were wearing PFDs (personal flotation device) when they drowned. During the same period, vessel disasters were the leading cause of death, accounting for 50% fatalities in commercial fishing. On-deck injuries caused 12% of all fatal injuries and the largest number of non-fatal hospitalized injuries. Between 2000 and 2014,
According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), 300 million people visit the nearly 400 amusement parks in the United States every year. In an analysis of amusement rides at parks and carnivals by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an estimated 37,154 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for serious amusement park injuries in 2011. Out of these injured people, 35,977 were released, while 1,177 required further treatment in the hospital or died due to their injuries. Everyone loves amusement parks, but no one thinks about the dangers that come with these places. You and your family can have a fun
In 2013, the total payout in medical malpractice was $3,733,678,100, which was an increase of 4.7% from 2012. 38 states had more payout than they did in 2012.
According to studies, diagnostic errors occurred in approximately 5% of outpatients every year in the United States, meaning that roughly 12 million adults are victims of misdiagnosis. A small fraction of this 5% is made up of missed cancers, but it is found that “delayed cancer diagnosis” is one of the most harmful and costly types of diagnostic errors.
During the fiscal year 2008, 54 reported transfusion-related and potentially transfusion-related fatalities occurred in the United States, with subsequent reports of 66 in 2009 and 64 in 2010. Preventable medical errors rank third among the leading causes of death in the nation, claiming more than 400,000 lives each year. These errors cost the country tens of billions of dollars a year.
Robots have long been involved in the making of cars and electronics. They are also starting to learn how to make decisions that enable them to drive cars for us. As robots get smarter, there may be potential applications for artificial intelligence in the medical field. Specifically, it may be possible for a robot to perform surgery on its own in the future.
