The Six Common Mistakes by Medical Personnel

When you have suffered an injury or illness, and you seek medical treatment, you don’t expect that your condition will deteriorate because of negligence or carelessness by a medical caregiver. When you or your loved ones need medical care, either during the birth of a child, or as your loved ones need assisted living or nursing home care, you expect that everyone involved will exercise a level of care that minimizes risk of injury. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Despite the esteem with which we tend to hold doctors, nurses and other medical personnel, they make mistakes, just like everyone else. When they do, and you or your loved ones suffer, you have a right to seek full and fair compensation for your losses.

At the Todd J. Leonard Law Firm, we have been representing victims of medical malpractice for over 25 years in Morris County, Essex County, Union County, Middlesex County, Sussex County, Warren County, Hudson County, Passaic County, Bergen County, Monmouth County, Ocean County as well as throughout the State of New Jersey and the surrounding communities. Attorney Todd Leonard was named a New Jersey Super Lawyer in 2011. For a free initial consultation, contact our office online, or call us at (973) 920-7900.

Common Forms of Medical Negligence

For a variety of reasons, medical organizations and medical personnel can make errors that result in unnecessary injury. They may be understaffed, or they may not have adequate measures in place to minimize the risk of injury. There may be hiring, training or supervisory shortcomings. Regardless, you have a right to seek damages for your losses.

The most frequent types of medical mistakes are:

• Failure to diagnose a specific medical condition—A doctor may neglect to perform routine tests that would have provided an early diagnosis of a serious medical condition, such as cancer. Faced with pressures to minimize costs, doctors and hospital personnel may be reluctant to order tests that could be lifesaving.
• Misdiagnosis—A doctor may negligently interpret symptoms or test results, leading to an incorrect diagnosis. As a result, your condition may worsen to the point where it cannot be remedied, or where it requires substantial treatment.
• Prescription errors—A doctor may simply have poor or sloppy handwriting, leading a pharmacist to provide you with the wrong medication or to prescribe an incorrect dosage. The doctor may prescribe the wrong drug or dosage, or the pharmacist may misread the prescription.
• Surgical mistakes—Surgeons can operate on the wrong body part, or perform the wrong operation. A surgeon may also leave a surgical tool in a body cavity, or fail to keep conditions antiseptic, leading to infections.
• Birth injuries—This can include delivery room errors, such as forceps or hypoxia, leading to cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy. A doctor may wait too long to order delivery by C-section, or hospital personnel may be negligent in fetal monitoring.
• Nursing home abuse or neglect—Nursing home residents can suffer injuries due to bedsores or decubitis ulcers, from malnutrition or dehydration, or from falls resulting from inadequate monitoring or improperly assembled restraints.

Contact Our Office

To set up a free initial consultation, contact us online or call the Todd J. Leonard Law Firm at (973) 920-7900. Se habla español.