Medical Malpractice
Injuries as a result of healthcare are the third leading cause of death in the United States. This fact is almost never talked about. But, one of the most dangerous places you can be is a hospital or your doctor’s office. The injuries that result from medical malpractice are devastating. I have seen clients left paralyzed, permanently disabled, on life support, and told that their once treatable disease is now no longer treatable and was going to kill them. People have died in hospital emergency waiting rooms of heart attacks after telling the triage nurse they had all the symptoms of a heart attack and then waiting for hours to see a doctor.
There are a few injuries in the medical setting that have been considered unacceptable. Falls in hospitals and medical facilities injure thousands and thousands of people every year. This is simply unacceptable. Patients in hospitals are there because they are ill and need treatment. The medical providers and staff are there to take care of them and prevent falls. Yet, they still happen.
Hospital falls can be devastating, leading to broken limbs, head trauma, and death. Hospitals and nursing homes need to be held to account for these if we are going to see any change in the statistics.
Another unacceptable injury are pressure sores or bed sores. Pressure sores happen when a patient is not properly turned and padded to prevent the sores from forming. Nursing homes and hospitals often neglect to prevent these injuries from happening. They are painful, and can be debilitating. People have spent their finals days in agony as a deep pressure sores goes untreated, killing the tissue to the bone.
I am disturbed by the current trend in our healthcare system of large corporations, both nonprofit and for profit, taking over the practice of medicine. The notion of the family doctor, who was there for you and your family, is going away. The family doctor has been replaced by large clinics. These clinics require doctors to meet certain “patient metrics” limiting your doctor’s ability to practice medicine. The doctors are forced to practice medicine for the sake of the large organization at your expense.
I find medical malpractice and nursing home abuse and neglect cases to be the most troubling. We put our complete trust in our healthcare providers. We trust that they are looking out for us and we trust them with our lives and our loved ones. When this trust is broken, the results are devastating. I have spent years working to understand our healthcare system and to hold hospitals, doctors, clinics, nursing homes, and other providers accountable when their negligence has devastated someone.
