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Thousands of people experience adverse medical events each year due to medical malpractice. If you believe you or a loved one were harmed because of medical negligence, it’s important to speak with an experienced New York medical malpractice lawyer who can help you determine what steps to take next.
What follows are the most common types of medical errors and how they impact patients. If you suffered one of these injuries, talk to a lawyer about how to start a compensation claim.
Diagnosis Errors
Diagnostic mistakes are among the most frequent and dangerous forms of medical negligence. An incorrect or delayed diagnosis can lead to irreversible harm because patients either receive the wrong treatment or no meaningful treatment at all. Common diagnostic safety failures include:
- Misdiagnosis: When a provider diagnoses the wrong condition, patients may undergo unnecessary procedures or receive medications that cause harm.
- Delayed diagnosis: When doctors take too long to identify the correct condition, diseases such as cancer, stroke, or infections can progress to life-threatening stages.
- Failure to diagnose: Some conditions are simply overlooked, often due to rushed examinations, insufficient testing, or the misinterpretation of lab or imaging results.
Birth Injuries
While childbirth always carries inherent risks, many severe birth injuries are entirely preventable when proper medical care is provided. OB-GYNs, nurses, midwives, and delivery room teams must adhere to strict standards to protect both mother and infant. Unfortunately, injuries can still occur due to improper or forceful use of devices like forceps or vacuum extractors, which may cause trauma to the baby’s head, brain, shoulders, or spine.
Delays in ordering a necessary C-section can deprive the infant of oxygen, potentially resulting in conditions such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) or cerebral palsy. Inadequate fetal monitoring that fails to detect signs of distress also contributes to many preventable birth injuries.
Prescription Medication Errors
Medication mistakes can occur at multiple points in a patient’s care. Because prescriptions directly affect the chemical functioning of the body, even minor errors can cause catastrophic harm. Examples include:
- Prescribing the wrong medication
- Incorrect dosage levels (too high or too low)
- Failing to communicate prescription details clearly to a pharmacy
- Not monitoring side effects or interactions with existing medications
Anesthesia Errors
Improper anesthesia management can cause oxygen deprivation, respiratory arrest, dangerous reactions, or long-term neurological injury. These cases often carry higher-than-average damages because they tend to involve life-altering outcomes.
Surgical Errors
The operating room is one of the most high-risk environments in medicine. Even highly trained surgeons can make devastating mistakes when protocols aren’t followed. Common surgical errors include:
- Wrong-site or wrong-patient surgery, leading to unnecessary procedures and delayed treatment
- Leaving surgical tools, sponges, or devices in the patient
- Causing unintended damage to organs, blood vessels, or nerves
- Sterile-technique failures that result in severe infections
Hospital Communication Failures
Breakdowns between medical staff, such as missed lab results, unreported imaging findings, or unclear handoff notes, are responsible for thousands of preventable injuries nationwide, according to The Joint Commission.
ER departments in New York are often overcrowded, leading to rushed evaluations, missed symptoms of heart attacks or strokes, delayed triage, and errors in administering medication or imaging orders. Therefore, many medical malpractice incidents occur in New York emergency rooms as well.
Radiology and Imaging Mistakes
Misinterpreting X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, or mammograms is more common than most patients realize. Even a minor oversight can delay diagnosis by months or years.
Consult with a New York Medical Malpractice Attorney About Your Legal Options
If you or a loved one were injured because of a medical error, you may be entitled to compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and long-term care. Medical malpractice cases in New York are complicated and involve strict deadlines, expert testimony, and detailed medical record analysis, so it’s essential to work with a law firm that understands these cases thoroughly.
The attorneys at Monarch Law Group are available to review your case and walk you through your legal options. To schedule a free consultation, call or contact us today.
