More Than Half of the Injuries Caused During Medical Treatment are from Preventable Errors

Ben Glass

Attorney
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Medical malpractice takes place when a patient suffers injuries due to negligent care or preventable errors during the course of receiving medical treatment. A doctor, nurse, or someone else in the medical or healthcare profession can cause medical malpractice.

If a patient receives treatment for an injury, but it never heals, that is not medical malpractice. Healthcare providers are not liable for treatment that simply doesn’t work because they are unable to guarantee success. Similarly, doctors are not liable for all errors that occur during complicated medical procedures such as surgery. Only the errors that could have been easily prevented or were caused by negligence are a basis for a medical malpractice claim.

However, this does not mean that medical malpractice is a rare occurrence. One Harvard Medical Practice Study says that more than half of the injuries caused during medical treatment are because of preventable errors and another 25 percent are due to negligent care. That means that more than 75 percent of the time a patient sustains an injury from medical management, there is a case for medical malpractice.

Medical malpractice can take place at any point during treatment. In past cases, 80 percent of malpractice occurred at a hospital, with 20 percent taking place at a doctor’s office or other non-hospital setting.