As a law firm specializing in medical malpractice and mistakes, we see firsthand the traumatic and often catastrophic results of malpractice, and its effects on victims’ families. Our passion for this field translates into great interest into how and why these mistakes are made in the first place, and what malpractice attorneys and plaintiffs as a community can do to prevent them.
Though much ink has been spilled on this topic, we recently came across an article in the esteemed British Medical Journal (BMJ), in which the author asserts that evidenced-based medicine is damaged. Evidence-based medicine is heralded in the U.S. as the solution to medical malpractice reform. In theory, it sounds ideal: in order to minimize medical errors, physicians should apply therapeutic principals rooted in scientific and medical research when diagnosing and treating patients.
The reality, of course, is much more complex, varied, and as many argue, broken. The BMJ author declares that drug manufacturers have figured out how to manipulate this evidence-based system to their advantage, conducting research trials as opportunities to tout unnecessary drugs. Once these trials produce “evidence,” that certain drugs help certain patients at certain times, physicians are forced to comply, often to the rapid demise of their patients’ health.
Overdiagnosis, Overtreatment
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Truth be told, the drug industry funds (and therefore controls) the majority of medical research, which leads to massive overdiagnosing and overmedicating. This, many doctors believe, is what is truly fueling medical mistakes in American health centers. Our societal dependence on prescription drugs is immense and steadily increasing. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nine out of ten adults in the U.S. report using at least one prescription drug in the past month.
That clinical research is corrupted by the drug industry doesn’t make national headlines like egregious medical malpractice lawsuits do, but it is the driving force behind such cases. In order to remedy this, we have to first understand and accept that it is happening, and direct energy toward changing what is broken.
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Medical researchers need to focus on what desperately needs to be studied – natural history of diseases, diagnostic criteria, long-term efficacy and safety of drugs. Conversely, we also need to urge researchers, philanthropic organizations, and government officials to tighten regulation of competing interests, predetermined agendas, and Big Pharma influence.
Complex Patient, Understaffed Hospitals
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Another major problem affecting every subset of our healthcare system is overworked, underpaid nurses and medical assistants. An article recently published on ProPublica, written by a Harvard Medical School graduate and internal medicine resident, illuminates how difficult it is to keep patients with complex conditions safe in hospitals. The author’s mother died of breast cancer after six months in a nationally-ranked hospital, during which time she witnessed a slew of medical mistakes and incidents that hastened her mother’s death.
She asserts that, most often, injuries from medical mistakes are not the result of negligence, but of critical information falling through the cracks. Things like medication errors, nutritional regimens, and falls are often caused by seemingly minor incidences, like handoffs between nursing shifts, nearly identical labeling and drug names, and lack of fail-safe systems.
In a word, the author believes complexity is the problem plaguing our health system. As medical advances save and improve lives, it is also creating an influx of new medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and treatments; there are just too many layers to manage, and overbooking physicians is only exacerbating the problem.
How to Help
Families with loved ones in hospitals must be active participants in their care plans, which can help curb the mistakes made during nurse and physician hand-offs. Family members have a lot of information to offer attending physicians, and may notice medication or nutrition slip-ups that nurses overlook. In some cases, this simple act can make the difference between death and recovery.
Victims of medical malpractice and negligence have many questions, which hospitals or physicians are not always willing to answer. Typically, the most efficient and effective way of instating change in a hospital’s policies is by filing a malpractice lawsuit. Our firm has over two decades of experience in this field and employs our own team of investigators who can help you get to the bottom of your injury.
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