A recent, exclusive investigation into medical malpractice issues and its culture of secrecy in Cleveland revealed some startling details; namely that, even though many hospitals are tracking medical mistakes, they are keeping them fairly well hidden from the public. Specifically, those who are injured at a hospital are rarely, if ever, informed of the mistake, even if it means the difference between life and death.
Horror Stories of Medical Malpractice Issues
Some of the incidents—specifically at Veterans Medical Centers—are horrifying. For example, one patient who had surgical gauze left in his stomach after undergoing dental surgery was not even informed about the mistake–even when doctors realized what they had done. Only when the patient went to another doctor did he realize that gauze had been left in his stomach. And in what turned out to be perhaps every family’s worst nightmare, even once the gauze was removed, the patient could not recover from the infection it had caused and he passed away six months after the initial surgery, ultimately dying from dental implants even after previously fighting esophageal cancer years before. In spite of this massive and fatal mistake, the medical center staff failed to describe how they would ensure that this would never happen again.
And sadly, sometimes these incidents seem more routine than incidental; for example, another patient described going in for a procedure to remove a mole from her face, only to suffer from severe and debilitating burns after the doctor accidentally set a fire in the process of removing her mole. Despite this obvious mistake, this particular patient was also not informed about what happened—not until she took the doctor to court. Only then did she find out that the doctor had forgotten to tell the anesthesiologist to turn off the oxygen, thus causing her burns when he used a tool that, in combination with the oxygen, caused a fire.
Data Collected… And Hidden
Is anyone collecting the data on these occurrences? According to the investigation, there are government agencies collecting this information and hospitals are specifically required to report certain disciplinary actions taken against doctors and others to the National Practitioner Data Bank. However, all of this information is kept confidential and the public cannot access it. Thus, if the purpose of collecting this information in the first place was to prevent physicians who lose their license in one state from practicing in another, how is anyone supposed to know if a doctor has these previous disciplinary reports against him or her?
The thought of the public not having access to this information is particularly frightening in the context of the Cleveland VA hospital that was the focus of this investigation, as records indicate that there were allegations of one particular surgeon causing the deaths of up to 15 patients.
Medical Malpractice Attorneys
On top of an individual and/or a family having to deal with medical mistakes that have harmed their health or the health of a loved one, not being provided with the information necessary to prevent further harm (after the initial harm had been done) is a particularly deceptive form of malpractice.
If you have experienced harm of this nature, our New Orleans medical malpractice attorneys are dedicated to ensuring that justice is done. Contact us today for a free consultation.