Medical Malpractice Statistics
Posted on Sep 2, 2009 2:01pm PDT
Medical malpractice is both a legal and a medical term that is defined as professional negligence or the failure of a medical professional to provide patients with the appropriate and accepted standard of care. According to the medical community, all medical professionals are responsible for providing their patients with diagnosis and treatment that is considered acceptable. When medical professionals fail to meet their duties or act negligently, they can be accused of medical malpractice or medical negligence.
Despite what many people may believe, medical malpractice is quite common in the United States. Below are some statistics that have been provided by the Journal of the American Medical Association that show how common medical malpractice really is:
- 225,000 people die each year from medical malpractice in the United States each year
- 12,000 deaths can be attributed to patients having surgical procedures they did not need
- 7,000 deaths can be attributed to medication errors that were made in hospitals by physicians, nurses and hospital staff
- 80,000 deaths can be attributed to infections that patients incur while staying in hospitals
- 106,000 deaths can be attributed to adverse reactions to medications
These numbers are astronomical and prove that medical errors and malpractice are truly at an epidemic level in our country.
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