Excess Length of Stay, Charges, and Mortality Attributable to Medical Injuries during Hospitalization

Excess Length of Stay, Charges, and Mortality Attributable to Medical Injuries during Hospitalization

Introduction

Research has shown that a number of patients are held in hospitals due to medical injuries. Currently, it is classified as the highest source of death. An area that requires improvement in medical institutions is the patient safety. The care provided by medical personnel has been deteriorating throughout the years. A medical injury can be defined as an injury that occurs when a patient is under the care of a medical officer. In most cases, medical treatment comes with risks. Consequently, medical institutions have adopted a policy that allows the patients to sign a form stating that they comprehend the risks. If complications develop due to the treatment, the institution is not held liable. For example, on signing such documents for a heart transplant, the doctor is not liable in case the patient’s body rejects the organ. However, even after signing such documents, several injuries result from medical abandon and not risk. In my opinion, the increase in medical charges, the extra duration of stay and the mortality rate can be connected to medical injuries sustained in the hands of medical officers.

Discussion

            A case described as medical injury suggests that the medical officer in charge of the operation committed an error. This means that this mistake could be avoided. Such injuries could result from wrong choice of medicine or incorrect dosage of drugs. Due to these injuries suffered, a patient will be required to spend more time in the hospital. One of the reasons why the knowledge about medical injuries is limited is because it is hard to prove cases of medical slackness. Most law firms disregard such cases because they are difficult to win. On the other hand, the experience that a person goes through due to a medical injury can make the person put the incidence behind them. For example, a medical injury can result to so much pain due to worsening of the condition. A person may decide not to pursuit such a case because they want to forget the pain. As a result, most of these cases will remain in court for a long time. Since most of these cases are hard to prove, most medical personnel or institutions will not shoulder the responsibility of the bills. A patient will therefore be required to pay in order to treat the wounds or injuries incurred.

The number of injuries in medical institutions has increased due to inexperienced personnel. Most people assume that the personnel in uniforms have either the title of doctor or nurse. This therefore gives them the security and guarantee that proper medical care will be provided to them. However, this is not true in all cases. The number of people undergoing training in medical institutions has reduced rapidly. The professional standard that was once high has also gone down. This observable fact relates to most parts of the country but especially the private segment. Most of the employees granted the title of nurses have only basic training. They lack the professional experience that empowers them to provide quality health care services. Along the corridors of hospitals and other institutions, the number of nurses has decreased. Most people are not aware of this since the untrained workers also wear the same uniform that the nurses wear. This negligence also applies to doctors who practice without proper training and experience. A large percentage of medical injuries occur during surgery particularly, undoing a surgery cut. This type of professional negligence has contributed to the increase in medical injuries that has claimed many lives, increased the cost of medication and stretched the duration in hospital beds.

During urgent situations and catastrophes, the number of medical injuries is very high. This is because of the nature of the circumstances. For example, if a country experiences a bomb explosion, the number of causalities will be high. The hospitals or medical institutions will be full of causalities. There may not be enough beds or medical personnel to take care of all the injured people. The personnel may not be prepared to deal with the response of a patient’s body towards the impact. During such moments, it is difficult to provide a proper diagnosis or even follow the standard procedures. A doctor in this case may need to discern a proper treatment. In some cases, it will work for the patient while in other cases it may result to medical injury. Medical injury can also occur due to failure of nurses or subordinate doctors to admit the patient in time. The doctors, will take a long time in diagnosing the problem and by that time, it may be too late to perform medical treatment. For example, if a doctor fails to diagnosis a cancer patient, after a year, it may be too late to perform chemotherapy. It is a challenge for doctors to have knowledge on the development of new strains of a disease. The lack of knowledge may lead to medical injuries.

Conclusion

For a person to claim medical injury, they must be able to prove that the medical personnel had the option of providing proper treatment but they did a mistake or that an erroneous treatment was provided instead. The number of medical injuries has increased. This is due to the decrease in professional standards, the difficulties in proving medical negligence, cases of emergencies and disasters and reduction in medical personnel. Doctors have a difficult time when trying to stay up-to-date with new developments in medicine. This type of ignorance can lead to medical injuries even though the doctors had inadequate information. As a result, these injuries have claimed many lives, increased the cost of medication and stretched the duration in hospital beds.