If you have any interest in medical malpractice, and medical malpractice insurance, you cannot only read doctors, or insurance providers. You have to read trial lawyers who take medical malpractice cases. Thus, I notice from one attorney blog that,

SURGICAL ERRORS ON THE RISE

Of course, this by itself doesn’t mean much. “With the increasing number of surgical procedures being performed in the United States, it’s not surprising to also see an increase in surgical errors.” So, it is possible that surgical safety is improving, for all I know.

The blog post provides a list of common mistakes in surgery. But what I find most telling is the statement, “Even the most experienced and skilled surgeons can commit a surgical error.”

It seems to me in making the case for tort reform, one needs to really point this out. My guess would be that, in the midst of the understandable emotional turmoil and other pain, patients who get an attorney might be prone to assume that there was some extra negligence or apathy that a doctor must be guilty of. But this may simply not be the case. Surgeries are dangerous. Do we understand that? Or do most people assume that surgeries are normally unproblematic? If they do, this might explain why medmal claims can get so high in court cases.

I suspect, if you’re a doctor or nurse, you already know about the common mistakes. But, if you need to refresh your memory, take a look at the list of errors.