Findings from a recently-released study suggest that patients are just as likely to be a victim of medical errors at a physician's office as they are at hospitals.
Researchers at a well-known U.S. medical school analyzed records from the U.S. National Practitioner Data Bank to compare medical malpractice claims paid by doctors and hospitals. Their studies found that half of the near-11,000 medical malpractice claims that were paid were a result of medical errors suffered in doctor's offices.
The other half of the medical malpractice payments were the result of medical errors in hospitals.
The study further showed that the most common type of medical errors in doctor's offices were misdiagnoses, while surgical mistakes were typically the cause of medical malpractice claims in hospitals.
Researchers behind the study say that the amount of effort put into reducing medical errors in hospitals is much more than efforts to reduce those in the offices of doctors and physicians. This is due to the fact that doctor's offices have typically not been the main focus of patient safety reform.
A great deal of medical errors can be the result of poor communication within or between different doctor and physician offices, according to the study.
If you believe that you have been a victim of medical malpractice due to an error at a doctor's office, hospital, or other medical facility, please contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. You can click here to visit our website, or you can call us toll-free at 1-800-541-9376.
