While the majority of medical professionals do their best to save lives and heal the afflicted, many healthcare providers unfortunately render care with preventable shortcomings. Such deficiencies in the afforded medical treatment are often in violation of the standards of care accepted within the medical community. As a result of this medical negligence, a considerable number of preventable injuries and fatalities occur every year.
What Are the Statistics Concerning Medical Malpractice?
A major study consolidating the data from roughly 15 medical journal articles analyzing medical malpractice throughout the U.S. revealed the following alarming statistics:
- Nearly 160,000 deaths per year are caused by diagnostic errors.
- One in three hospital patients experience preventable hospital errors in their treatment.
- Prescription errors (in excess of 1 Million per year) cause about 7,000 patient deaths per year.
- Approximately 80,000 patients die annually due to hospital negligence.
What Are the Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice?
Common types of medical malpractice include the following:
- Delayed or incorrect diagnosis and/or treatment
- Medication errors (contraindicated medication and/or dosage)
- Surgical errors (including unnecessary trauma to otherwise healthy tissue, instruments and other surgical materials left in a patient, anesthesia mishaps, etc.)
- Preventable birth injury
If you or a loved one has been the victim of negligent medical care, remember that the deadline, or Statute of Limitations, for filing a medical malpractice claim on behalf of an adult in New Jersey is generally two years. However, depending upon the entities and healthcare providers involved, there may be other significant time constraints during which certain notices must be filed. Accordingly, it is important that you contact appropriate qualified legal counsel as soon as you learn that injuries may have been sustained by virtue of medical negligence.
Contact the New Jersey medical malpractice attorneys at Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinari for a consultation at no cost to you.