What kinds of mistakes constitute negligence?
Of course, this all depends on the type of medical condition involved, the nature of the medical treatment, and many other factors. It is impossible to document all of the potential medical mistakes that might constitute negligence. However, there are some sort of recurring medical errors that attorneys see rather frequently. Medication errors, for instance, occur with alarming frequency. This might involve use of the wrong drug because the physician’s handwriting was unclear, or because the pharmacologist got two drugs with similar sounding names mixed up. It might involve an incorrect dosage, or giving the drug too often or not often enough. Medication errors take a deadly toll on innocent victims. A 2001 study published in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy described more than 5,000 medication errors to the FDA during the period 1993-98, 68% of which resulted in “serious patient outcomes,” including 469 deaths. The law requires that medication errors be reported to the F
