For every good intention and efforts towards quality, there is a Murphy’s Law. We expect people to fail on occasion and not every day is going to be our best.

That forgiveness falters when it comes to the world of medical malpractice. We expect our healthcare system to go beyond typical human behavior. People in the medical profession need to strive for excellence because the stakes warrant extra effort.

We’ve covered the more common forms of malpractice before. Here are more limited occurrences to look for.

The Less Common Malpractice Errors

An error is an error is an error. Nobody suffers less harm because the fluke that caused their injury happens to be uncommon. 

If anything, uncommon errors face less scrutiny and get underserved. It’s harder to report and seek compensation for infrequent occurrences of malpractice. 

This is especially true when navigating issues of negligence, significant damages, and if standards of care were violated.

Post-Op Infection

The most common uncommon malpractice errors come from infection. After a surgery, monitoring of patients is crucial to avoid damages stemming from unknown complications.

Frequently, infections rise from the hospital environment itself when workers improperly sterilize between patient interactions.

Even surgeries that have no errors leave a person weakened and more prone to infection. When a patient is not watched for early signs of an infection and treated late, this can delay recovery significantly or lead to more serious complications.

For organ donations and transplants the need for vigilance increases. 

Opportunistic Infection

While on the topic of infections, opportunistic infection comes right after post-op in number and severity. These infections occur when hospital protocols are not followed.

Sanitation in a hospital needs to be ongoing and comprehensive to avoid risks to patients. Unfortunately, the many moving parts of a hospital staff leave gaps that cause issues. 

Cafeteria staff and visitors left unattended to roam are frequent causes of opportunistic infection. 

Informed Consent

One of the trickiest sources of medical malpractice comes from the problem with informed consent. In some cases, informed consent is not sought due to time restrictions. This can fall under the Samaritan clauses in some case and not in others. 

Other issues with consent include staff seeking consent from the wrong person. When issues of identity are involved this can be understandable but remain actionable. 

Patient’s wishes being ignored in favor of other courses of action are the most common. Doctors’ lament the problem with the informed components as much of the medical profession takes years of education to gain even a partial understanding of, leaving a legal gap when it comes to consent. 

Record Mistakes

Record keeping mistakes contribute to many other forms of medical malpractice but deserve to be scrutinized on their own. Record keeping creates a through line for care, when it is done improperly, it opens floodgates of problems into the hospital system. 

Worker Fatigue

A tired worker is a poor worker. You will be hard-pressed to find an environment with more sleep-deprived and overworked employees. The short staffing and overwhelming numbers of patients create issues for each other. 

Protect Your Rights

If you suspect medical malpractice has occurred in regard to yourself or a loved one, reach out for assistance. Time is of the essence when unraveling the causes of a medical injury. Contact us for a consultation and let us get to work for you. We’re here to help.