The L.A. Times reports that the California Department of Public Health has cited 14 California hospitals for medical errors that have caused – or were likely to cause – serious injury or death to patients. These medical mistakes included a wide variety of negligent conduct, from prescription errors to surgical errors.
While not every medical error constitutes medical malpractice, where a health care professional's conduct falls outside the requisite standard of care and a patient is harmed as a result, the medical professional may be held responsible for the damages caused and required to pay compensation. Consulting with a skilled California medical malpractice lawyer is important to begin an investigation into an injury and answer your medical malpractice questions.
The L.A. Times reports several examples of serious medical errors committed at hospital across California including one instance where a patient was given an overdose of an antibiotic that led to kidney failure, requiring dialysis. In another situation, doctors at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center failed to remove a sponge from a patient following abdominal surgery. Medical staff at Torrance Memorial Medical Hospital was also fined for this surgical mistake on a patient suffering from esophageal cancer.
The nearly $850,000 in fines across more than a dozen California hospitals is an alarming figure. Such a high number of errors and preventable medical mistakes reveals just how much more needs to be done to improve patient safety and prevent medical malpractice. It is important to ensure that those people who a seriously injured due to medical negligence, or the families of a patient who suffers a wrongful death, be able to obtain the compensation they deserve.
For more information, or if you believe you or a loved one has been harmed due as the result of a medical error, contact the aggressive San Francisco medical malpractice lawyers at Bostwick & Peterson, LLP for a free, confidential consultation.