Surgical residents in New York hospitals are typically evaluated by checklists and hours worked, but a John Hopkins study found that tracking errors could be just as important as monitoring progress. When assessing future orthopedic surgeons, training models focus on volume instead of quality.
According to statistics, as of 2015, between 240,000 and 337,000 people in the United States are living with spinal cord injuries (SCI). 52% of people with SCI are considered paraplegic and 47% quadriplegic. Roughly 240,000 new cases of SCI occur annually. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, the most common causes of SCI are:
New York residents may be interested in the case of a woman who was initially diagnosed as brain dead and refused treatment by doctors as a result. Later, two neurologists hired by the woman’s father to give a second opinion diagnosed her as not brain dead based on the fact that she moved some extremities when she was pinched.
New York patients who are about to have medical treatment should have serious concerns about the prevalence of medical errors. Some studies have estimated that approximately 250,000 people die each year around the country because of a medical mistake.
New York residents may know that former standout NFL linebacker Junior Seau’s suicide has been linked to the degenerative and progressive brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The Hall of Famer suffered bouts of severe depression before taking his own life in 2012, and the San Diego Chargers team doctor who prescribed him the sleeping aid zolpidem, which is sold under the trade name Ambien, has been accused of gross negligence by the Medical Board of California.
A study that has been published in a medical journal has noted that in 2013, more than 250,000 people died from medical errors. Based on this estimate, medical errors may be the third leading cause of death in the United States. Hospitals in New York and throughout the country may become safer for patients as insurance companies and medical providers are increasingly examining data about errors and making changes to their policies based on what they learn.
New York residents sometimes perform online searches before choosing a physician, but the results provided by search engines like Google and Yahoo do not always tell the whole story. The medical community is rarely eager to share the details of malpractice lawsuits, and a desire to contain this kind of information leads to many such lawsuits being settled with the plaintiffs signing nondisclosure agreements.
A New York mother was awarded $50 million after she sued her obstetrician for injuries she suffered during a 2009 childbirth. In addition to suffering tissue lacerations, the woman was given an unnecessary episiotomy that did not heal correctly. The woman’s digestive system was also damaged. There should not have been any complications with her second childbirth.
According to the American Medical Association, more than 60% of doctors aged 55 and over in the United States have been sued at least once. Failure to diagnose was the leading cause of malpractice allegation in 2012. 10% to 20% of cases involved incorrect, delayed, or missed diagnosis.
According to a Journal of American Medical Association article, medical malpractice claims an estimated 225,000 lives each year. These incidents can be divided into several groups including:
