The Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts revoked the physician and surgeon license of John Ure of Deepwater, Missouri. According to KOMU, Ure lost his license after amputating a patient’s gangrenous toe on the porch of his rural office. The office reportedly doubled as a machine shed and lacked running water. Ure was quoted saying that the surgery instruments were “absolutely perfectly sterile.”
The American Medical Association (AMA) sets strict guidelines for many medical procedures, including surgeries, in order to avoid injuring patients and to preserve trust in the American practice of medicine. The physician-patient relationship rests upon the trust that medical experts will perform in our best interests all the time. Frankly, sometimes physicians fail this obligation of trust by injuring a patient or by operating outside the realm of the patient’s interests.
Physicians make errors like any other professional. Whether that error was made due to poor decision making, carelessness, lack of sleep, or failure to bring in a necessary specialist, your health can be seriously compromised and you deserve an experienced medical malpractice attorney fighting on your behalf.
Admittedly, the toe amputation story out of Deepwater, Missouri was a first for our firm. However, here are some more common forms of medical malpractice claims outside of front porch toe amputations:
Misdiagnosis and Failure to Diagnose
Symptoms are often obscure or difficult to diagnose. Misdiagnoses are common in the United States. About 12 million people are misdiagnosed in the United States every year. Diagnostic errors have the capacity to seriously harm a patient.
Prescription Errors
A prescription error is made when a patient is given the wrong medication or the wrong dosage. Furthermore, physicians have a duty to inform patients of the side effects of the medication they prescribe. Recent developments in successful medical malpractice claims have reached as far as pharmacists and drug manufacturers, too.
Childbirth Errors
OBGYNs are responsible for about 20% of successful medical malpractice claims. A lot is at stake during childbirth, and negligence during childbirth can result in fetal distress, spinal cord injuries, and postpartum hemorrhaging—the number one cause of maternal death after delivery.
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors can lead to infections, permanent damage, and even death. These errors include incorrect incision or surgery site or leaving a foreign object, like a surgical sponge, inside the body.
Anesthesia Errors
The drugs used during anesthesia are some of the most powerful drugs used in modern medicine. An anesthesiologist must closely study a patient’s medical history in order to administer the anesthesia correctly. If steps are missed by the anesthesiologist, the consequences can be fatal. Anesthesia malpractice, however, is not just confined to the operating room. Anesthesia malpractice can happen in the pre-operation stage, the recover room, or during sedation for dental procedures and other outpatient operations.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a medical professional’s mistake, contact an experienced personal injury attorney today.