Medical Mistakes Injure More Than 10% of Patients

Unfortunately, there are exceptions. You likely know that healthcare workers sometimes cause harm as a result of carelessness or negligence. What you might not realize is just how often this occurs.

According to a study published in The BMJ, one of the most highly-regarded professional journals in the medical field, errors harm more than one in 10 patients at some point when they are receiving medical care. The study also concluded that approximately half of those errors could have been prevented. Perhaps even more startling, about 12% of these errors either caused a patient’s death or left them permanently disabled.

How Patients & Their Families Can Seek Compensation for Losses Resulting from Medical Malpractice and Medical Errors

Ideally, the potential solutions outlined above will yield a decrease in the rate of medical errors causing harm to patients. However, in the meantime, patients and their families can’t simply assume they will never be the victims of medical malpractice. They need to understand their legal rights if they are ever harmed or if they ever lose a loved one because a medical professional was careless.

When healthcare workers cause injury or death, their victims or the surviving family members of their victims can often seek financial compensation for such losses as their medical bills, lost wages, funeral expenses, and more. They may do so by filing a medical malpractice claim.

They should also understand that the process of recovering compensation can be nuanced and complex if they lack proper training and experience. Gathering the evidence necessary to support a claim that they or a loved one was harmed because a medical professional was negligent requires conducting a thorough investigation.

Our team of Boston experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Swartz & Swartz, P.C., is prepared to do so on your behalf. Contact us online or call us at (617) 742-1900 for more information.