medical errors

19 Stories

Nurse on Trial for Homicide After Mistake in Hospital
Nurse in Fatal Drug
Mix-Up Hears Her Fate
UPDATED
Mar 26, 2022 5:30 AM CDT

Nurse in Fatal Drug Mix-Up Hears Her Fate

RaDonda Vaught found guilty of negligent homicide, gross neglect in death of 75-year-old patient

(Newser) - Update: RaDonda Vaught has been found guilty in the death of an elderly patient after a fatal drug mistake. The Tennessean and NPR report that a jury in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday convicted the former nurse of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult, tied to the...

She Went in for Surgery, and Her Body Ignited

An awful story out of Romania involving a 66-year-old cancer patient

(Newser) - If you're having surgery in the near future, you may want to skip this one: A woman died in Romania one week after her body was accidentally set on fire during an operation. The BBC reports the pancreatic cancer patient was being treated at the Floreasca Hospital in Bucharest...

Medical Error Ends With Teen's Thumb Replaced With Toe

Horrifying 2018 incident revealed in new investigation

(Newser) - After fracturing her thumb during a cricket game, a 17-year-old Australian girl was supposed to have a simple surgery, a short recovery, and be back to playing the game. That's not what happened. After repairing the fracture, doctors placed a plaster cast on Britney Thomas' thumb—but, unbeknownst to...

Surgical 'Never Event' Leads to $25M Lawsuit

Woman had stent put in wrong kidney at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

(Newser) - Two doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have admitted to implanting a stent in the wrong kidney of a woman who sued in March for more than $25 million. Carla Miller of Jackson, Tenn., died two months later, though her children are continuing with the lawsuit and will argue kidney...

Being Rude to Your Kid's Doctor May Be a Health Hazard

It can jeopardize the care children receive, a study found

(Newser) - If you think being tough with your child's doctor is the right way to ensure better care, think again. A new study out of the University of Florida suggests that rude parents can cause serious, even deadly, consequences. Researchers who staged emergency situations in a neonatal intensive care unit...

America's No. 3 Killer Is Medical Errors, Says Study

Analysis finds 700 people succumb to them daily

(Newser) - Imagine wiping out the entire population of Orlando, Fla ., each year. That's essentially what medical errors are doing, according to an analysis of four studies on the topic that was published in the BMJ on Tuesday. It finds that about 9.5% of Americans who die each year are...

Errors With Meds Happen in Half of All Surgeries

And the longer your procedure, the greater the risk

(Newser) - In past studies, doctors rarely self-reported medication errors during surgery. But a new study out of Massachusetts General Hospital, based on researcher observations during 277 procedures in the anesthesiology department, arrived at a far different conclusion: that about half of all surgeries involve a medication error or "adverse" drug...

Why Do Docs Botch Surgeries?
 Why Do Docs Botch Surgeries? 
NEW STUDY
Jun 8, 2015 8:41 AM CDT

Why Do Docs Botch Surgeries?

Researchers detail why 69 major errors occurred among 1.5M surgeries

(Newser) - To err is human, and deadly when those humans are doctors. Major surgical errors are pretty rare—some estimates put them at one in 12,000 surgeries—but they do happen, even egregious ones like leaving instruments behind or performing the wrong surgery altogether. Mayo Clinic researchers recently set out...

Nurse Undergoes Breast Surgery After Medical Mix-up
Nurse Undergoes Breast Surgery After Medical Mix-up
in case you missed it
May 2, 2015 1:29 PM CDT

Nurse Undergoes Breast Surgery After Medical Mix-up

Elizabeth Dawes was wrongly told she had breast cancer

(Newser) - A mom in the UK has been left physically and emotionally scarred after the hospital where she worked as a breast care oncology nurse mixed up her own test results with another patient's and told her to undergo surgery to remove aggressive breast cancer. Four days after the 2013...

Surgeon Relies on Memory, Removes Wrong Kidney

Dr. Charles Coonan Streit on probation after removing federal inmate's healthy kidney

(Newser) - A federal inmate entered surgery in February 2013 thinking he would soon be free of his cancerous left kidney. When he emerged, he had lost his healthy right one instead. It was a mix-up that could have been easily avoided had California surgeon Dr. Charles Coonan Streit examined radiology and...

Doctors: To Stop Errors, Stop Over-Treating
Doctors: To Stop Errors,
Stop Over-Treating
sanjay gupta
Aug 1, 2012 1:01 PM CDT

Doctors: To Stop Errors, Stop Over-Treating

Sanjay Gupta reflects on the increasing number of medical mistakes

(Newser) - When it comes to medicine, "more is not always better," writes neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta in the New York Times . Doctors make thousands of mistakes each year—in 1999, as many as 98,000 Americans were dying annually due to medical errors, and that...

Wrong Patient Gets Kidney at USC Hospital

Blunder could have killed patients

(Newser) - USC University Hospital put its kidney transplant program on hold last month after it somehow managed to transplant a kidney into the wrong patient. Luckily for all concerned, the kidney happened to be an acceptable match for the patient, and he survived what could have been a deadly error, the...

Errors Push Surgeons to Consider Suicide

16% of those who have made a major error think about ending it, study finds

(Newser) - They're the ones we go to for help, but they may be the ones hurting: Surgeons contemplate suicide at a higher rate than the general public, according to a study of 8,000 surgeons: About 6% reported having recent suicidal thoughts, compared to 3% of the public. But the stat...

Brits Outraged Over Organ Donation Without Consent

Health secretary apologizes after organs removed without consent

(Newser) - Computer errors affecting the National Health Service's organ-donor registry led to the removal of organs from 21 people who had not given consent, and the UK health secretary has ordered "a review to find out why this has happened." The error in recording the preferences of 800,000...

Obnoxious Docs Linked to Dangerous Mistakes

Nurses often afraid to point out errors, ask questions

(Newser) - If your doctor's a jerk, it might be dangerous to your health. Many nurses are reporting that hostile, harried physicians often ignore their summons—or make them hesitant to questions in the first place. This "health care equivalent of road rage" causes errors, dangerous complications, and sometimes the...

US Health Care Stinks: Study
 US Health Care
 Stinks: Study 
Jul 17, 2008 10:33 AM CDT

US Health Care Stinks: Study

Huge inefficiencies put American system last among 19 developed nations

(Newser) - The US health care system gets dismal grades in a ranking of 19 industrialized countries, Reuters reports. A private foundation looked at key indicators like efficiency and access, and found the US did very poorly despite spending the most money—putting it last on the list. Health-care dollars were squandered...

Hospital Owns Up to Wrong-Side Surgery

Experienced doc makes rookie mistake

(Newser) - An experienced surgeon cut into the wrong side of his patient this week at a Boston hospital that has, coincidentally, been leading the crusade against medical mistakes. The hospital told its entire staff about the blunder, the fifth such wrong-side surgery Massachusetts has seen this year, the Boston Globe reports....

Quaids Sue Drug Firm Over OD
Quaids Sue Drug Firm Over OD
Dec 5, 2007 9:00 AM CST

Quaids Sue Drug Firm Over OD

Actor alleges packaging led to infants' nearly fatal overdose

(Newser) - Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife filed a lawsuit against Baxter International, maker of the blood thinner Heparin, after their newborn twins nearly died of an overdose, the Chicago Tribune reports. The couple said Baxter was negligent because it packaged two different strengths of the drug, one a thousand times...

Doctors Are Sorry, Not Sued
Doctors Are Sorry, Not Sued
Apr 12, 2007 9:33 AM CDT

Doctors Are Sorry, Not Sued

New laws allow doctors to apologize

(Newser) - Lawmakers in nine states want doctors to be able to say they're sorry. So-called  "I'm-sorry" laws, already on the books in 27 states, allow doctors to apologize to patients when they make mistakes, or as expressions of sympathy, without fear of litigation.

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