Doctors Fail to Report Abnormal Test Results At Alarming Rate

Posted by: Salvatore J. Zambri, Esquire

Doctors fail to report clinically significant findings to their patients in more than seven percent (7%) of the cases, according to the Associated Press, relying on a new study published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  Physicians’ use of electronic medical records tended to lower instances of failures to inform.  The frequency of errors is higher in practices that used a combination of electronic and paper records, as opposed to practices that relied on only paper or only electronic records, reports Nicholas Bakalar of the New York Times.    

We encourage doctors to utilize the electronic technology now available to better communicate with patients and other physicians regarding a patient’s symptoms and conditions.  Reckless record-keeping leads to needless deaths and injuries.  There is a crisis in this country–too many Americans die each year as a result of hospital and doctor errors.  Nearly 100,000 people die every year as a result of hospital mistakes alone.  Safety needs to be a priority as we move forward.

About the author:

DC Metro Area medical malpractice Law Blog
Go to Source

Related posts

• IV Error Results in $1 Million Wrongful Death Settlement (The family of a Vermont woman who died as a result of an IV error has been awarded a $1 million judgment in her wrongful death lawsuit. The victim, Katherine Coffey, had been admitted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in 2005 to be treated for fluid in her lungs following a recent open heart surgery.  While undergoing [...])
• Acid-Suppressive Medications Linked to Increased Risk for Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (According to a recent study summarized in the Journal of the American Medical Association, use of acid-suppressive medications is associated with increased risk for hospital-acquired pneumonia.  For this study, researchers examined electronic medical data for nearly 64,000 adults hospitalized at one medical center for at least three days over a four-year period.  About half of [...])
• How Often Does Medical Malpractice Happen in Canada? (How often does medical malpractice happen in Canada? The short answer is that the law suits that are filed in court are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to medical malpractice claims in Canada. medical malpractice claims in Canada tend to get a lot of attention in the media. Everyone is concerned about [...])
• Medical Malpractice Suit Filed On Behalf Of Sacramento Woman, Part 5 of 6 ((Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.) The defense cites Bird v. Saenz (2002) 28 Cal.4th 910. In Bird, the Supreme Court denied bystander emotional distress to plaintiffs who saw their decedent being briefly rushed through a hospital hallway in respiratory distress. The [...])
• Giving A Patient The Wrong Medicine (As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I am frequently asked to comment on malpractice cases from around the county. Recently, a Chicago hospital settled a case for $3 million after it failed to properly treat a toddler for an allergic reaction to penicillin, which had been given to her for an ear [...])
• What Is Medical Malpractice? (In the United States, medical malpractice is a growing problem. Medical malpractice is a medical act or decision made by a doctor or health care provider that deviates from what is accepted as a standard of practice in the medical community and leads to injury or death. Medical malpractice can result from negligence from the [...])
• Medical Malpractice and “The Oprah Effect” (Oprah Investigates medical malpractice My wife loves the Oprah show. She DVR's the program and watches it (almost) every night. Tonight she asked me to watch todays show about Medical Errors. 100,000 Americans 24,000 Canadians Die Every Year Oprah and one of her regulars, Dr. Oz turned a spot light on a problem that kills more than 100,000 [...])
• The Consumer Has To Be Engaged In The Health Care Debate (Talk to any average American about the health care system and there is no doubt that many will agree that the system needs to be fixed. Too many people don't have coverage, the rates are killing struggling small businesses, and non preventative care just leads to more expensive deadly problems later. As Washington continues to [...])
• Israeli Doctor Gets 8 Years in Prison for Anesthesia Malpractice (A court in Tel Aviv, Israel found anesthesiologist Dr. Svetlana Rousso-Lupo guilty of manslaughter in the death of a child while under her care.  The doctor has been given an eight year sentence, the harshest punishment the country has ever imposed in a case of medical malpractice. The case surrounded the 2005 death of 3 year [...])
• Bayer Sued Over Its Oral Contraceptive–Yaz (Posted by: Salvatore J. Zambri, Esquire Bayer reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2008, forcing the company to pay for a $20 million ad campaign to correct the company's history of overstating the benefits of its oral contraceptive--Yaz--and downplaying its risks.  The FDA determined that Yaz carries additional risks as compared [...])
• Medication Errors (Each year an astounding 1.3 million people are injured in the US due to medication errors.  According to The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention,  a medication error is defined as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the [...])
• Successful Trial Techniques – Using Technology In The Courtroom (As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I am often asked what contributes to my success. Certainly hard work comes first. But there are also various ways that can improve the odds of being successful in the courtroom. One way is to use computerized technology in the courtroom. [...])
• Failure to properly report x-ray, CT or MRI results – Medical Malpractice (An Indiana jury has issued a large verdict in a medical malpractice case last month, an unusual thing in a state where such judgments are rare. The jury awarded the woman $5 million after miscommunication about X-rays led her to lose a portion of her stomach. Due to caps on damages, the verdict [...])
• Florida Woman Agrees to Undisclosed Settlement in Hospital Infection Case (A settlement has been reached in the recent medical malpractice lawsuit filed on behalf of Claudia Mejia Edwards against Orlando Regional Healthcare Systems, Inc., after the mother of two lost all four limbs following an untreated hospital infection. Shortly after delivering her second child, Ms. Edwards began complaining of a rash, fever, chills and other symptoms.  [...])
• What Does Informed Consent Have To Do With My Nova Scotia Medical Malpractice Claim? (medical malpractice can happen in two ways: 1. Negligence is when your doctor causes an injury because he or she failed to meet the standard expected of a reasonably competent physician; 2. Assault and Battery happens when your doctor does not have your informed consent to perform the medical procedure that caused your injury. Consent to Medical Treatment: Everyone has [...])
• Oral Surgeon Operates on Wrong Side of Mouth (Officials at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Rhode Island have admitted that an oral surgeon performing a surgery at the hospital began operating on the wrong side of a patient’s mouth before noticing the error.  The surgical error occurred earlier this month and is the fifth such incident reported by the hospital’s medical group, Lifespan, in [...])
• Hospital Acquired Infections: Is it Medical Malpractice? (Hospital Infections Widespread Problem Infections acquired while getting healthcare for an unrelated condition is becoming a common, and dangerous, problem in hospitals across North America. MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) has been in the news a lot. MRSA is a potential deadly infection caused by bacteria that has become resistant to most antibiotics. For example take a look [...])
• Propylthiouracil Poses Serious Liver Injury (Posted by: Salvatore J. Zambri, Esquire and Catherine Bertram, Esquire An U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report confirms that, two days ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "warned health care professionals about the risk of serious liver injury associated with the use of the anti-thyroid drug propylthiouracil for the treatment of Graves' [...])
• Hospital Fined after Deadly Blood Transfusion Error (In a disturbing case of hospital malpractice, California’s Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has been fined $25,000 by the state after a patient died from a blood transfusion error. In October 2008, a patient was given a blood transfusion that was later found by a Department of Public Health investigation to be unnecessary.  In addition to the [...])
• Medical Malpractice – Intravenous Therapy Errors (Intravenous therapy, or IV for short, is the process of administering medication directly into a patient’s vein.  Given the delicate nature of this type of treatment, it is understandable that IV’s can be considered one of the riskiest ways to administer medication.  For that reason, IV errors can have devastating consequences including life altering injuries [...])
• Informed Consent Malpractice (The Maryland Court of Appeals has issued a new decision on the law of informed consent in Maryland medical malpractice cases. According to the court, doctors must inform patients not only of the risks of procedures but also the potential consequences of forgoing a medical procedure. The decision is a victory for patient’s rights. [...])
• Newt Gingrich Panders To Doctors Without The Facts (Newt Gingrich is now writing opinion pieces for the Philadelphia Inquirer about the topic of tort reform. Its premise is that the real victims of malpractice claims are: The Economy and New Jobs. I guess it's timely, but where the heck is the proof for that? His examples of cases of tort reform that were passed and [...])
• Insurance Companies Part In The Medical Reform Debate Needs To Be Watched (For many Americans, the Obama administration directive to seriously attack the heath care crisis was a welcomed plan. There is no doubt that costs are continuing to rise and more and more people are in need of help paying for their care. As always, there will be groups that will want to gain financially from [...])
• Medical Malpractice Defenses (If you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, you have already been subjected to injury, damages and emotional distress, even before your case makes it to trial.  For this reason, it’s important to be prepared and know what to expect before you end up in court so you won’t be surprised when the defense begins [...])
• What Do I Have to Prove to Win My Medical Malpractice Case in Canada? (When someone dies or is seriously injured in a hospital, or after receiving medical care, it is human nature to feel that someone is responsible, that someone is to blame. But from a legal standpoint, it may not actually be possible to prove that someone is liable (legally responsible) for the death or injury. There are [...])

Tagged as: attorney, death, die, doctors, injury, lawyer, lawyers, Medical Malpractice, patients