Most shocking medical mistakes
Thousands of patients trust their lives in the hands of medical professionals every day, but even the best doctor or nurse can make a mistake while caring for you or someone you love. Here's a list of 10 shocking medical mistakes and ways to not become a victim.
Thousands of patients trust their lives in the hands of medical professionals every day, but even the best doctor or nurse can make a mistake while caring for you or someone you love.
Thousands of patients trust their lives in the hands of medical professionals every day, but even the best doctor or nurse can make a mistake while caring for you or someone you love.
CNN.com has put together a list of medical mistakes, including the causes of the mistakes and ways to prevent them from happening.
Here's a list of 10 shocking medical mistakes and ways to not become a victim.
1. Treating the wrong patient.
Cause: Hospital staff fails to verify a patient's identity.
Prevention: Before every procedure in the hospital, make sure the staff checks your entire name, date of birth and barcode on your wrist band.
2. Surgical souvenirs
Cause: Surgical staff miscounts (or fails to count) equipment used inside a patient during an operation.
Prevention: If you have unexpected pain, fever or swelling after surgery, ask if you might have a surgical instrument inside you.
3. Lost patients
Cause: Patients with dementia are sometimes prone to wandering.
Prevention: If your loved one sometimes wanders, consider a GPS tracking bracelet.
4. Fake doctors
Cause: Con artists pretend to be doctors.
Prevention: Confirm online that your physician is licensed.
5. The ER waiting game
Cause: Emergency rooms get backed up when overcrowded hospitals don't have enough beds.
Prevention: Doctors listen to other doctors, so on your way to the hospital call your physician and ask them to call the emergency room.
6. Air bubbles in blood
Cause: The hole in a patient's chest isn't sealed airtight after a chest tube is removed.
Prevention: If you have a chest tube in you, ask how you should be positioned when the line comes out.
7. Operating on the wrong body part
Cause: A patient's chart is incorrect, or a surgeon misreads it, or surgical draping obscures marks that denote the correct side of the operation.
Prevention: Just before surgery, make sure you reaffirm with the surgeon the correct body part and side of your operation.
8. Infection infestation
Cause: Doctors and nurses don't wash their hands.
Prevention: It may be uncomfortable to ask, but make sure doctors and nurses wash their hands before they touch you, even if they're wearing gloves.
9. Lookalike tubes
Cause: A chest tube and a feeding tube can look a lot alike.
Prevention: When you have tubes in you, ask the staff to trace every tube back to the point of origin so the right medicine goes to the right place.
10. Waking up during surgery
Cause: An under-dose of anesthesia.
Prevention: When you schedule surgery, ask your surgeon if you need to be put asleep or if a local anesthetic might work just as well.
To read more about the most shocking medical mistakes and specific patients' stories, go to http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/09/health/medical-mistakes/index.html
