Deaths Due to Medical Errors Are a Serious Problem in the United States

Medical error deaths are one of the main causes of death in the United States according to a 2016 study from Johns Hopkins Medicine. They found that more than a quarter of a million people in the United States die from medical errors each year, ranking just behind heart disease and cancer. This is very alarming news and knowing that these occurrences happen at the rate they do, it might mean that you should speak with an attorney about the death of a family member that you believe could be due to medical incompetence.

Why might a death occur?

With medical mistakes, death could occur for any number of reasons. In some cases, the death occurred due to problems in surgery that could have been prevented. Other times, the death could have been due to a misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose a patient properly. The death could have resulted from an infection that occurred while the patient was in the hospital.

Medication errors can be a problem, as well. The doctor might have prescribed the wrong medicine to a patient, who could be allergic to the medication. Perhaps the doctor prescribed the wrong medication to treat the patient’s condition. The doses prescribed could have been incorrect, as well.

These are just some of the many ways that deaths due to medical errors could occur, and as the research shows, they could be more common than many people realize.

When to ask for help

If you believe that a loved one died due to medical errors that could have been prevented, you should take action to get the justice that they, and you, deserve. Get in touch with an attorney who is experienced in this field of the law and who has a good reputation. When you meet with the attorney, they will go over exactly what happened, look at the evidence, and then let you know whether you have a case or not. They can help to guide you through the process, which can be very complex, from start to finish.