Joint Commission Releases Findings that 2023 Medical Errors May Exceed a Record High

The Joint Commission has released its data for the first half of 2023, and alarmingly, it shows that sentinel events are on track to surpass a record high found in 2022. Sentinel events are patient safety events that cause severe temporary harm, permanent harm, or death. If you or a loved one were injured through a doctor or staff error at a medical practice, please call the seasoned Chicago medical malpractice lawyers of Moll Law Group. We also handle claims regarding dangerous drugs and medical devices, making us ideally positioned to look at all angles by which liability may be proven.

Call Moll Law Group About Your Claim

Sentinel events are very serious. Among the common causes of sentinel events were teamwork failures, communication failures, failure to adhere to standard policies and procedures, wrong site surgery, wrong procedure, wrong patient, assault, rape, sexual assault, suicide, and treatment delays that cause further harm.

The injuries that result from these events can change the lives of you and your family forever. According to the Joint Commission data for the first half of 2023, of 720 reported and reviewed events during this time period, 18% caused patient death, 63% cause severe temporary harm, and 7% caused permanent harm. Tragically, many of the events were completely preventable.

Various common sense practices as well as existing procedures are put in place to guard patients from errors and ensure that they are cared for as well as possible. However, because medical teams involve multiple people, it’s easy for communication or collaboration to be imperfect, or even disastrous. Health care providers are expected to take the time to use appropriate techniques and standard procedures in order to avoid huge errors and patient injuries.

Whether you’ve suffered harm as a result of undiagnosed appendicitis or failure to order a colonoscopy that led to growth of colon cancer or failure to provide a procedure that would have prevented premature delivery of a baby, it’s important to seek legal advice about whether the injuries you or your child has suffered are the result of medical malpractice.

Not all errors amount to medical malpractice or can be the basis of a lawsuit, which is why legal advice is so important. Medical malpractice exists when: (1) you have a professional relationship with a health care provider such that he or she has a professional duty of care towards you, (2) breach of the professional duty, (3) the breach caused you injuries, and (4) actual damages. For example, if your doctor operated on the wrong site of your body due to bad communication on your medical team, you might have a claim for medical malpractice. Or if you had risk factors for an incompetent cervix, and your obstetrician failed to treat you with a procedure to protect you and your baby against that during your pregnancy or labor, and as a result your baby was born prematurely and died, you might have a claim for medical malpractice. Every case is different; it is critical to retain a medical expert to review your file and the facts in these types of cases to determine whether there was a breach of the professional duty of care and causation.

Contact Trusted Chicago-based Medical Malpractice Attorneys

If you or a loved one were harmed by a medical error, you should consult the experienced Chicago-based medical malpractice lawyers of Moll Law Group about whether you have a viable basis for a claim. Our firm fights for injured consumers and patients around the United States. Complete our online form or call us at 312.462.1700.