Medical Blunders

One of the most common forms of medical blunder is failure to diagnose.

In all walks of life mistakes happen, this due mostly to human error. It is generally accepted however that as society evolves and science advances then such blunders should reduce or at least be controlled.

This Unfortunately is not the case as many people experience an increase in workload and with an ever demanding administrative targets, the real issue of providing a quality service is on many occasions unachievable.

How can this be so? In previous years the thrust of health professionals was based primarily on providing a health service to meet the demands of the nation, rather than being focused on targets.

Prior to the concept and birth of NHS Trusts in the UK, departmental organisation was structured on management and service provision. Today's health service has a middle level which focuses heavily on target setting, evaluation, strategy and health lifestyles.

From the outside it would appear our health providers are more concerned with paperwork targets then successful and wholesome treatment.

There are a number of diseases and injuries that cause concern as to the continued high volume of medical errors, particularly a failure to diagnose.

Cancer is a widespread disease that affects all parts of the body, time is of the essence and to that affect the importance of accurate diagnosis and treatment is paramount to improve the chances of survival rates. One of the most worrying cancers as far as failure to diagnose is concerned is the breast cancer. This is the most common form of cancer in women and presents both a physical and psychological endurance for the sufferer. We all know there are huge screening campaigns but the evaluation of these sometimes overpower the real issue of swift and accurate detection. Failure for GP's to listen to concerns and failure to accurately interpret scans are key areas of blunder.

Something as simple as a back ache can turn into a nightmare for the suffers of a condition know as Cauda Equina Syndrome. The Cauda Equina is an area of the lower back that is shaped in a horses tail. When a compression of the spine occours in this location clear symptoms present and may be referred as 'Red Flag Symptoms'. Combinations of symptoms include, lower back pain, leg pain, sexual dysfunction, saddle area numbness. Many people suffer failure to diagnose or indeed misdiagnosis for such other conditions as Sciatica. A Cauda Equina injury turns into Cauda Equina Syndrome when the decompression of the spinal area is untreated. This decompression must be done within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms otherwise serious conditions such as paralysis , bowel, bladder and sexual dysfunction may be permanent. This type of misdiagnosis is commonly due to health providers being unaware of the condition.

Our final view of misdiagnosis is essentially involved in the area of birth injury and relates to two types of blunder. The failure to diagnose diabetes in the mother and and also the failure to diagnose a larger baby, who would be or cause distress during the actual birth process. There is a constant record of the pregnancy period and much monitoring and yet there are still too many occasions when both mum and baby suffer because of medical negligence.

There are a number of conditions that are onset from the failure to diagnose the mothers diabetes during pregnancy often called gestational diabetes, and these include higher rates of Still Birth and Respiratory Distress Syndrome for baby and increased rates of type two diabetes for the mother.

For further information about medical or clinical negligence and claiming compensation for the above injuries visit the links.