Medical Mistakes

          There are various possible ways in which your medical care can go wrong. Unfortunately, a mistake can occur at any level of the health care chain. Before going in for a major procedure, it is wise to study the record of your hospital and treating doctor. The different types of medical mistakes are:

• Misdiagnosis: This also includes failure to diagnose complications and underlying causes of an illness.
• Wrong treatment: This may be due to the wrong diagnosis.
• Prevention mistakes: Failure to take preventive action is also a medical mistake. It may be the failure to inform you about risk factors for certain diseases.
• Surgical mistakes: These may be in form of equipment left inside, wrong cut, excess anesthesia or infections from surgery.
• Hospital mistakes: You may pick up some infections in the hospital, or the hospital staff may make an error in giving you your medicines.
• Medication errors: These can be mix-ups in the names of medicines, adverse side effects, using wrong combinations etc.
• Lab errors: Your test report may be wrong. It may be due to human error or equipment error.

          You, as a patient, can do a lot to prevent medical mistakes. Get involved with your doctor; ask him questions about your illness and do some research. Do not forget to tell your doctor everything you can, even if he does not ask.

          Although surgical mistakes are not under your control, you can take some precautions. Study the surgery record of the surgeon concerned. Ask the medical staff to wash hands and change gloves.