What is medical error?

Medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care whether it is harmful to the patient or not. Medical errors resulting in the death of the patient can be either due to wrong or error in the judgment , skill or in standard of care , delayed diagnosis, wrong diagnosis, system failure, surgery error, operating on the wrong body part , anesthesia error etc John Hopkins University School of Medicine estimate that medical error is now the third leading cause of death. Approximately 251,454 people die yearly due to medical error.

Some forms of medical malpractice are Misdiagnosis, Delayed Diagnosis, medication errors, surgery errors , Anesthesia errors etc Patient needs to know when, how and where to complain .Keeping in view of the raising medical malpractice cases , New Medical liability Law 2016 was passed which improvises upon the existing Medical Liability Law No.10 of 2008.
All these medical error are caused due to negligence on the part of the medical practitioner. Negligence is defined as failure to exercise the same reasonable care that would be expected from a reasonable skilled medical practitioner in the same situation. Most of the medical error could be prevented by following hospital checklist, and protocols . It is very important for the patient to know or get their case evaluated by an attorney experienced with Medico-legal cases. It is also equally important for the hospital management to get their case evaluated and appeal their cases in lieu of 100% insurance payment for malpractice cases according to the new law and rise in Medical Malpractice premiums. Medical malpractice cases are different from other cases. Attorney with good medical knowledge or good experience in medical malpractice case can go through the medical documents and identify the medical error

and also know what questions to be asked regarding the case. It is important to understand the injury caused to the patient, as to whether it is minor, major or gross injury to proceed with the case and seek accurate compensation in lieu of it. Damages or compensation that can be claimed include Medical expenses, loss of income, psychological pain and suffering, loss of earning capacity etc.
Dubai Health Authority should consider reporting medical error deaths on the death certificate as suggested by John Hopkins University School of Medicine. Most importantly Medical practitioners should ensure and strive for the patient safety by acting with due diligence in order to reduce medical malpractice cases.
You want an Attorney who is:
– Tough and effective in court
– Accessible, sympathetic and compassionate toward you and your situation
– Extremely knowledgeable and experienced in medical malpractice cases