It's About Justice

A leading medical malpractice and personal injury law firm for people
harmed through negligence.

  1. Home
  2.  » 
  3. Medical Malpractice
  4.  » Miscommunication errors often lead to medical mistakes

Miscommunication errors often lead to medical mistakes

On Behalf of | Jul 29, 2022 | Medical Malpractice

There are a lot of different reasons that medical mistakes happen, from doctors being incompetent to medical professionals rushing through a procedure. But, in many cases, researchers have found that miscommunication errors are the main problem.

For example, this has been found to be an issue in patient/physician communications, especially regarding different drugs and medications. Many patients end up getting drugs that they do not need or that are actively harmful to them. Experts note that these negative events could have been avoided if there was simply better communication prior to the event. 

Communication within the medical setting

But it’s not just communication between patients and physicians that can be a problem. There are also a lot of issues when members of the medical team do not communicate properly.

For instance, many medical centers now use electronic health records. These are certainly seen as a benefit because it’s easier to transfer the files than it was with older paper records. This can lead to better communication when things are done properly.

However, this does mean that technology becomes even more important. If someone makes an inadvertent mistake and sends the wrong record to a surgeon or another member of a medical team, is that patient going to get the care that they need? Or could something like this lead to a never event, such as a wrong site surgery? The medical team itself may not know that anything is wrong, but they’ve been provided with the wrong information, so that’s going to lead to avoidable errors with severe consequences.

If you’ve been harmed due to medical malpractice, or if you’ve lost a loved one, you need to know what legal options you have.

Archives

FindLaw Network