Medical_Mistakes

  Medical mistakes can change a patient’s life, including the family of that patient. Some medical mistakes lead to serious injury, and occasionally death. There are countless numbers of medical mistakes that affect a countless number of individuals and their families. I will focus on three medical mistakes that I believe to be the most dangerous in my mind, and deserve some attention. Medical mistakes do not get the attention that they deserve. With the medical mistakes that have already taken placed and caused damage or death, there should be ways to help patients, as well as doctors and nurses, prevent these mistakes. One medical mistake is air bubbles in the blood. Air bubbles are caused when the hole in a patient's chest is not sealed airtight after a chest tube has been removed. The consequences of air bubbles are that they can get sucked into a wound and cut off blood supply to a patient's lungs, heart, kidneys and brain. According to a firm for medical malpractice cases, "air bubbles in the blood stream can be fatal" (Block O'Toole & Murphy, 2013 CZ Productions LLC). A way to prevent air bubbles is to ask how you, as a patient, should be positioned when the tube is being taken out. An example of a medical mistake with air bubbles in the blood, would be the case of Blake Fought, a 19 year old, "who asphyxiated and died because a nurse improperly removed an IV line" (2009 CBS Interactive Inc.). Another medical mistake that is common, is waking up during surgery, also known as under-dose of anesthesia. The main consequence of under-dose anesthesia is that the brain styas awake while the muscles stay frozen. Not all, but most patients "may be able to feel everything, including pain" (Block O'Toole & Murphy, 2013 CZ Productions LLC). The best way to prevent under anesthesia, is to ask your surgeon if you will need to be put to sleep or whether a local anesthetic would work. An example of an under-dose of anesthesia, is in the case of Erin Cook. Cook was having surgery to remove an ovary, when she awakened "to find to could feel everything, but was unable to communicate" (CNN). Cook was left physically and emotionally traumatized because she had to suffer through the pain of completeing the surgery, due to the fact she had no way to alert the doctor nor nurse. The last medical mistake that caught my attention is operating on the wrong body part. The primary causes of this mistake, is that the patient's chart is incorrect, or the surgeon misreads, or surgical draping obscures marks that denote the correct side of the operation. The consequence of this medical mistake is that the surgeon cuts into the wrong side of the pateint's body. According to the firm for medical malpractices cases, "doctors and nurses are responsible for maintaining and double-checking medical records" (Block O'Toole & Murphy, 2013 CZ Productions LLC). One way to prevent the mistake is to make sure you reaffirm with the nurse and surgeon the correct body part and side will be operated on. An example of operating on the wrong body part is the case of Jesse Matlock. Matlock was 4 years old, "when a surgeon performed corrective surgery on the wrong eye and then, without consulting the boy's parents, quickly operated on the correct eye" (ABC News, Michael Murray). Medical mistakes affect people of all ages. There are countless numbers of medical mistakes, and countless cases where patients have suffered damage or death. Medical mistakes can happen to anyone, but there are ways to prevent the mistakes as well. All patients, and family members of that patient, should know what is going on during an operation to help prevent these mistakes. Researching the operation or procedure that you or a family member are going to have done, can also help in preventing medical mistakes as well, by knowing the risk. Doctors and nurses are supposed to follow certain protocols and establish standards of care in order to avoid mistakes that can harm patients. In most cases of medical mistakes, doctors and nurses are taking short cuts or forgetting to follow protocol or the standards that are set in order to care for a patient. Holding doctors and nurses accountable for their actions and standards may prevent a lot of medical mistakes.