Tucson Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Few people have not heard jokes about a doctor's handwriting. Yet, it has been a long-standing tradition for doctors to scratch out information on a pad in prescribing medication. In a world where computers are involved in most every transaction, only about 36 percent of prescriptions are delivered electronically, according to a report published this month in Surescripts.

Studies have shown that electronic prescriptions that involve a few clicks of the mouse to enter can reduce medication errors significantly. Mistakes in providing patients with medications can have a wide range of complications, from the not so bad, to the tragic. Medication errors can occur at many stages, but errors caused by illegible handwriting can easily be reduced through technology.

On April 19, 2009, a child was born in a West Coast hospital. Friday, the day after the child turned 3-years-old, a jury found in favor of the family in a medical malpractice lawsuit that had claimed that the doctor was negligent during the birth of the girl, leading to a birth injury that resulted in cerebral palsy.

Tucson birth injury lawyers know that birth injury and medical malpractice cases often involve complex disputes involving differing opinions of medical professionals.

The dispute in the West Coast birth injury lawsuit appears to have centered on competing opinions from opposing medical experts who testified at trial on what caused the infant to lose her supply of oxygen to the brain during labor, resulting in the girls developing cerebral palsy.

A Midwestern hospital recently settled a negligence lawsuit with a family who lost their young child after a data entry error started a string of medical errors that led to the young boy's death. The child had an uphill battle from the beginning, but his battle for life did not overcome a series of medical mistakes.

The boy was born roughly four months early. The parents of the premature baby spent roughly six weeks at the hospital with their young child receiving care. The child needed heart surgery, and the parents were there when the young both emerged from the procedure without suffering any apparent complications. Shortly after the surgery, the infant died suddenly.

Last October, a young mother grew concerned about her baby's medical condition. The 3-month-old child was suffering with a fever. The mother sought medical attention at her nearby hospital, and the baby spent two days being treated for the fever. When the time for discharge from the hospital approached, the young mother was out through a horrific experience, according to a recent negligence lawsuit.

A hospital nurse was preparing the baby for discharge. The recent lawsuit alleges that the nurse's negligence in caring for the baby cost the young child one of her fingers.

Arizona medical malpractice lawyers know that medical mistakes can cause permanent harm to a patient. Most people think of surgical errors, a misdiagnosis or issues related to wrongfully prescribed medications or drug interactions in the area of medical malpractice. While today's story relates to an alleged medical mistake in another state, it is important to recognize that seemingly common procedures can result in serious harm.