Inside Look at a Medical Error of Omission in New Jersey
Individuals come to their doctors with the hope of healing. Sometimes, a physician does everything right, and the person’s health worsens. Not all negative outcomes indicate a failure on the doctor’s part. However, sometimes physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals make mistakes in significant ways that cause detrimental effects for those counting on them for medical help, diagnosis, and treatment. Often, it is assumed that only inappropriate acts by providers can lead to medical malpractice claims. And yet, there is another, equally important form of medical negligence known as a medical error of omission.
In these situations, medical professionals fail to take appropriate action, such as testing for specific medical conditions, prescribing medication, ordering proper testing, or failing to review or accurately interpret a patient’s lab results. In other words, errors of omission are also considered a manifestation of medical malpractice that may cause tragic harm. Here, we will delve into the intricacies of medical errors of omission, the different forms they take, as well as the potential medical and legal implications of these errors for innocent victims and their loved ones.
Defining Medical Errors of Omission
A medical error of omission occurs when a healthcare provider neglects to do something they reasonably ought to do, given how other providers would act under similar circumstances to fulfill their professional responsibility. For instance, most nurses follow the doctor’s instructions for administering a hospitalized patient’s medication. Thus, a nurse who does not, ultimately causing harm, may be deemed liable for medical malpractice due to an error of omission.
Unlike an error of omission, an error of commission is a medical professional’s wrong action. For example, a healthcare provider may incorrectly diagnose a patient’s condition or prescribe the wrong medication, causing the patient’s condition to worsen because of the delay. They may accidentally leave a surgical instrument inside of a patient undergoing an operation, leading to complications such as infection, internal bleeding, or even death. Overall, medical errors of omission are significant contributors to patient harm and can be as detrimental as errors of commission.
Common Forms of Omission Errors in Medicine
Failure to Diagnose
Failure to diagnose a condition may result from a physician’s neglect to order tests that would reveal an illness. So, a patient complaining of fatigue, pain, and other symptoms may suffer unnecessarily when their physician recommends rest when a simple blood test would reveal severe anemia or cancer. Also, failing to recognize a patient’s symptoms is an omission error contributing to a physician’s missed diagnosis.
Failure to Treat
Another serious omission is the failure to treat. A physician may not prescribe treatment if they did not diagnose a condition, but they may err by diagnosing a condition and not treating it. A physician who does not provide a patient with knowledge about their treatment options or fails to treat a patient without the financial means to pay for it may be guilty of malpractice by omission.
Failure to Administer Medication
When a physician, physician assistant, nurse, nurse practitioner, or any medical provider tasked with administering drugs does not administer medication to treat a patient’s condition or pain, they may be responsible for any resulting injury or complication and held liable for malpractice. An oversight in giving a person the medication they need can lead to grave results.
Failure to Monitor
Some errors of omission result from a healthcare worker’s failure to monitor a patient. Monitoring someone’s condition reveals many important details which are critical to treatment, such as a person’s response to medication, the development of additional symptoms for diagnosis, or critical turns in patient health.
Failure to Refer
For appropriate diagnosis and treatment, a physician should know when to refer a patient to a specialist with the expertise to identify and treat specific conditions. When a general practitioner suspects that a patient has a blood infection, they should refer them to an infectious disease specialist or hematologist for a confirmed diagnosis and treatment. Failing to do so is an error of omission that can be extremely dangerous to an unsuspecting individual seeking advice and further help from their doctor.
Failure to Follow-up
Failing to follow up with a patient after surgery or a drug trial, for example, can be malpractice when the subject falls gravely ill after leaving the hospital or medical office. Follow up is essential after a treatment or procedure and patient monitoring extends beyond the hospital or medical facility’s doors.
Failure to Communicate Between Medical Providers
Once a patient referral occurs, the referring physician’s office must follow up with the referred physician to monitor the person’s case. When a specialist does not communicate with the referring physician, the need for further care may go unnoticed. Likewise, a referring doctor’s failure to check back with the specialist may be an error contributing to a dire care interruption and resulting injuries.
Contributing Factors to Medical Errors of Omission
Human Factors
Errors of omissions occur for several reasons, the first one being human error. Medical personnel get busy, rushed, and fatigued. They may forget to check with a nurse about giving a patient medication or a radiologist scheduling screenings with a patient. Forgetting important steps in the medical care protocol can lead to injured men, women, children, and babies. People in all stages of life may be impacted by human errors of omission in the medical field.
Systemic Issues
An error of omission is sometimes the result of missing or unenforced protocols or procedures that include systems of reminders, checklists, and practices. Systemic issues may cause doctors to miss necessary patient follow-up, review, and treatment steps. By way of example, a medication error is less likely to occur when a protocol exists to communicate patient data to other team members.
Clinical Decision-Making
Another cause of omission errors is biases that may affect a physician’s clinical decision-making regarding diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. A clinician typically relies on various factors to handle a patient’s case, like the patient’s relationship of symptoms, values, and goals, as well as physical examination and tests to arrive at a diagnosis and treatment. When a clinical decision is based on other factors, such as interpreting symptoms based on their demographic, it may create an incorrect or missed diagnosis.
Cultural and Organizational Factors
Additionally, a hospital, clinic, or medical practice’s work culture may contribute to errors when the environment does not have protocols to prevent mistakes. Chaotic environments filled with miscommunication, hostility, insufficient staff-to-patient ratio, inadequately trained personnel, and disorganization can be breeding grounds for omitted patient care.
Scope of Impact of Medical Errors of Omission
Medical errors of omission can harm patients in various ways. For example, a physician who does not review lab results can miss significant signs of health problems and, therefore, completely fail to arrive at a patient’s diagnosis. For some patients, a missed diagnosis can be fatal or cause protracted treatment. Some diseases, like cancer, need prompt diagnoses for quicker treatment. Cancer left untreated can spread, causing longer and more difficult treatment.
Other medical team members, including nurses, physician assistants, or lab technicians, also omit essential procedures, practices, or performance measures that other similarly situated professionals would not, causing further injuries. If you or a loved one suspect that a healthcare provider’s errors of omission caused harm in your case, contact Fronzuto Law Group to speak to a qualified medical malpractice lawyer. You may be eligible for financial compensation if you act promptly, which we can determine and explain. Simply access your free consultation and case review today.
Different Effects of Omission Errors on Victims and their Families
Medical errors of omission can have devastating effects on patients and their families. Medical errors of omission are costly, emotionally, physically, psychologically, and financially.
Physical Toll
A physician who fails to read a patient’s chart before prescribing medication may gravely harm a patient who takes medications that counteract or react with the prescribed medication, causing the patient to suffer side effects, allergic reactions, and treatment delay. Additionally, a patient’s condition can worsen while the doctor recognizes the mistake and takes steps to correct it. The mistake could also be deadly when an ill patient becomes weaker or suffers a stroke or cardiac arrest due to taking contraindicated medication.
Mental Toll
Patients and their families suffer extreme emotional and psychological harm when a debilitating condition continues over days, weeks, or months. The impacted person may suffer pain, weakness, and incapacity while the family, rendered powerless, simply witnesses their deteriorating health. The family and victim experience anguish as recovery seems distant and the illness never ending when medical errors prolong treatment. Such anguish is especially heightened when a potentially deadly illness, like breast cancer, goes undiagnosed and untreated, causing the individual weeks more of radiation and chemotherapy when an earlier diagnosis would have required a brief surgery and potentially no chemotherapy.
Financial Toll
A person whose health worsens due to inadequate medical care has increased medical costs and time off work, meaning wage losses. Their medical care may continue far into the future with doctor visits, hospital stays, and therapeutic treatments, compounding losses.
Obtaining Just Compensation for Medical Errors of Omission
A victim of omission-related medical errors is entitled to reimbursement for their financial, physical, and emotional losses, including economic damages and pain and suffering. If a physician is extremely reckless in practicing medicine, punitive damages may be warranted. Families may also receive compensation for the financial and emotional support of a loved one who was lost to medical malpractice in a wrongful death action.
Reach out to an NJ Attorney for Assistance Navigating Your Medical Error of Omission Claim
Hundreds of thousands of people each year are hospitalized or die due to medical malpractice, including medical errors of omission. By its very nature, medical malpractice by commission or omission constitutes a breach in the duty of care that may cause likely sick or injured individuals to suffer worse fates, such as prolonged or permanent injury or death. The law stands by these individuals, allowing them a path forward toward the justice and compensation they deserve.
If you or someone you love experienced injuries or complications due to a medical error of omission in New Jersey, contact the seasoned medical malpractice attorneys at Fronzuto Law Group to advise you about your case, discuss your options, and chart a successful pathway to the compensation to which you are entitled. In a highly complex field such as medical malpractice, you need a guide who can take you through the steps and stages of a medical malpractice action, from preparation to conclusion of your claim. This is our firm’s specialty, having dedicated ourselves to this realm of the law for decades.
You deserve support for your future needs, as well as reimbursement for your past losses. Call 973-435-4551 for an initial consultation if a medical professional’s error of omission harmed you or a loved one close to you. Our team is standing by to assist you.
