Medical malpractice is a huge safety concern all around the world. It is as common as the ratio of good doctors in Washington DC. The United states have a huge population of people and they have a huge safety concerns related to medical Mal practice. This results in thousands of injuries and death tolls in the US. Here are some of the common facts you should know about medical Mal practice in Washington DC.
- Medical negligence is the third leading cause of death and injuries in the US.
- The death toll ranges from 800,000 to 100,000 per year due to medical negligence in the US.
- The cause of deaths is mostly the result of error in diagnostics.
- Because of no seriousness of hospitals 195,000 patients die in hospitals.
- With the increased death ratio there are approx. 15,000 to 19,000 suits filed against the negligence of medical staff every year in the US.
- 80% of these law suits end up as dead end in the court.
- Malpractice is the reason of conflicts between doctors and staff.
- Due to the misfortune and malpractice of healthcare organizations the doctors face stress and early resignation from careers.
- The level of practice changes according to patient’s age and location of the health care center.
- Legal cases taken to court takes years or months to fight.
- Medical negligence could be between diagnosis, during treatment or taking advice of after illness.
- The cost remains the same even if the patient is neglected.
Doctor’s malpractice
There are four D’s of malpractice that are,
- Duty
- Direct cause
- Deviation
- Damages
All these come under a duty of a doctor. The one who is the most blamed and is the one responsible is the doctor in the situation of malpractice. The main cause of malpractice from a doctor's side is the failure to diagnose patients' medical condition. This is the reason for almost 31% of doctors surveyed for malpractice. The other reason is negligence by causing patient injury in between treatment which result in patients' disability or death. Another situation occurrence of healthcare associated infection to the patient that is already in intensive care, this results in death of the patient.
Medical malpractice database
You can find out about your doctors' history for malfunctions through the federation of state medical boards physician data center. This is the medical malpractice database that has the past history of all doctors and their malpractices which is helpful for all individuals in choosing their doctor carefully.
