Wrongful Death Due to Medical Malpractice Estimated to Take 200,000 Lives This Year
If you have lost a loved one to a medical mistake, you are not alone. 200,000 people in the United States will die this year from preventable medical errors and hospital infections, according to a report from the Hearst Corporation entitled, “Dead by Mistake.” This is a staggering number of deaths.
Most states do not require hospitals or physicians to report mistakes, and even those that do are not taking steps to make sure all serious medical mistakes are reported. Without enforcement, laws are meaningless.
Patients trust hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals with their lives, often never questioning the medication prescribed, the surgical procedure, the diagnosis or the care given after surgery. This is a trust misplaced in many cases.
Our lawyers represent families in wrongful death medical malpractice lawsuits. Our experience has been that the following scenarios are far more common than they should be:
- Surgery on the wrong part of the body. For example, surgical removal of the wrong organ or the wrong body part (leg, arm, finger).
- Medication error. For example, administering the wrong dose, the wrong medication or overmedicating.
- Hospital infections. Often Stapholococcus aureus, MRSA (an antibiotic-resistant Stapholococcus aureus) or C. difficile.
Pritzker Olsen Attorneys have a national reputation and have been interviewed by The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Lawyers USA and others. Attorneys Fred Pritzker, Elliot Olsen and Eric Hageman have been named Minnesota Super Lawyers by Law & Politics. To contact our law firm for a free consultation regarding your Minnesota medical malpractice case, please call 612-338-0202, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form. We do not get paid unless you win.
