Patients suffer from medical malpractice

Patients suffer from medical malpractice

05/18/2013

For thousands of sick people in Germany are often added to their suffering problems that arise through medical error. Some examples suggest that a stronger culture of safety would be appropriate in hospitals and medical practices.

3932 confirmed treatment errors
Surveyors of the Medical Service of the health insurance companies (MDK) confirmed for the past year nationwide 3932 treatment errors. Some estimates even assume that about 40,000 patients complain in Germany about errors made by doctors at the health insurance funds, courts, insurance companies or medical offices. Particularly dramatic is the case of a 71-year-old heart patient. His chest was still open and an operating nurse found after their count that a compress was missing. The surgeon felt the connective tissue surrounding the heart, but did not find the swab. He suspected that it was a counting error and sewed the patient again. This turned out to be a big mistake, because the swab was still on the heart. The doctor could have found him by X-ray. The medical error led to the patient still in the intensive care unit to high fever and after further investigation, the compress was discovered. Although this was removed by emergency surgery, the 71-year-old initially had severe blood poisoning. The responsible physicians did not even want to document the events properly. The victim of the medical malpractice might therefore have had to forego an adequate compensation if MDK examiners had not become active. They had brought to light through their detective work a note from an anesthetist on the "intensive care unit treatment plan" 1, which provided evidence that the doctors had evidence of their misconduct.

More than 23,000 complaints a year
In Germany, more than 23,000 patients complained last year on suspicion of incorrect surgery and therapies in medical practices and clinics. These are the complaint numbers at health insurance companies and competent medical offices. Numbers of cases that land directly in liability insurance or in court are not known. About one third of suspected cases were confirmed after examinations. Stefan Gronemeyer, Vice President of the Medical Service of the Kassen-Spitzenverband, said: "In many cases, it is too easy to push on the inability, ignorance or negligence of an individual." Frequently, there is a clear planning and the disclosure of information is insufficient. As in a 70-year-old patient after a hip operation. The man changed his hip twice when getting up in rehab. When it happened for the third time at night, he was transferred as an emergency and the hip joint had to be readjusted in a second operation. The clinic doctors had not passed on the information that the pan of the joint had not sat optimally to the rehabilitation clinic.

Faulty medical documentation is not uncommon
Not only in clinics, but also in doctors' offices is getting messed up. MDK reviewers, for example, looked at the case of a 54-year-old woman who was not diagnosed with a heart attack right away. The patient went with pressure feeling in the belly to the family doctor and this tried by EKG and blood withdrawal to make a diagnosis. The woman came to the hospital two days later with acute abdominal pain and was found to have had a heart attack two days earlier. The MDK expert Astrid Zobel explained: "In the ECG, the heart posterior infarct should have already been determined." But what options does a hospital patient have if he suspects a treatment error? The MDK medical lawyer Ingeborg Singer advises: "He should create a kind of diary" and visitors, relatives or bed neighbors could serve as witnesses. In any case, the medical records should be requested. These should be checked for their completeness, because according to MDK auditors faulty documentation is not uncommon. The Federal Ministry of Health points out on its website that with the new patient rights law "the positions of the patients opposite health care providers and health insurance funds" are strengthened. It also states: "If there is a treatment error, the health and long-term care funds must in the future support their insured persons in the enforcement of claims for damages." (Sb)