California patients want to be active participants in their healthcare. Asking questions, taking notes and paying attention to doctors' and nurses' instructions can make it easier for patients to care for themselves independently. An alert patient can not only make his life easier by fully understanding what medications he is taking, but may also be able to catch a doctor's potentially fatal medication error or challenge a potential misdiagnosis.
Could cerebral palsy be caused by a negligent doctor?
Parents face many unknowns before they bring a baby into this world. What will the baby look like? Will the baby sleep? How difficult will labor be for the mother? Perhaps the most pressing concerning for many California parents is - will the baby be healthy? Fortunately, most babies are born healthy and without serious complications. But, in some cases, birth injuries occur and lead to lifelong consequences.
Dangerous side effects result from failure to perform blood tests
California patients who receive medication from their doctors often do so eagerly and willingly. They want to feel better, and they have confidence in their doctors to prescribe an effective, and safe, medication. Yet doctors do not always do their homework. They do not always ask the appropriate questions of patients prior to prescribing medications or perform the necessary tests, and this failure may result in dangerous medication errors.
Doctor negligence and misconduct leads to $500,000 damages award
A patient who undergoes anesthesia may have many concerns. Will there be any side effects? Will he or she wake up from the drugs? One concern that may not have crossed California patients' minds is - will the doctor be respectful to me during surgery? A Virginia patient found out that the answer to the last question was a resounding no after recording his doctor mocking him during surgery.
Prevention of California HAIs is essential
Hospitals are intended to be places where the sick go to get well, places where healing occurs. Unfortunately, however, patients do not always get better after treatment at San Diego area hospitals and that is not always due to a patient's particular illness. Sometimes a person's worsened condition is due to contraction of a healthcare-associated infection. There are many ways a patient might receive a healthcare-associated infection, or HAI, but it may arise due to poor care that could constitute medical malpractice.
