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For anyone with a chronic illness, that terrible word “Malpractice” constantly lurks in the back of their minds. We trust our healthcare professionals with our literal lives, and that trust is always rewarded.
Well – almost always. There have been occasional, worrying lawsuits regarding malpractice, and some of those lawsuits were related to dialysis. Let’s briefly recap some serious dialysis lawsuits – and whether or not you should be worried.
A recent lawsuit against the dialysis clinic Frenesius alleges that the company withheld vital information about the side effects of some dialysis drugs.
It’s fair to assume that most powerful medications do carry the risk of some side effects, however, these medications caused some patients to die of catastrophic heart failures. This lawsuit naturally makes other dialysis patients nervous about accepting medications from their dialysis clinics.
Faulty equipment can also be a serious issue, especially equipment designed to be used at home – without the benefit of trained medical staff nearby to monitor the procedure.
A medical malpractice suit was filed against Total Renal Care Inc. after a dialysis patient bled to death. The woman’s death occurred after the graft in her arm (the surgical access point for hemodialysis) deteriorated to the point of serious bleeding.
Her death occurred in the dialysis facility itself, after the woman was apparently moved from one machine to another, and was later found soaked in blood and suffering from cardiac arrest and respiratory failure.
Her death is likely due to the medical staff not properly monitoring the woman during her procedure, as well as failing to notice the deterioration of the surgical graft.
Since it’s entirely possible for a person’s surgical access point to gradually deteriorate over time, patients need to feel confident that their dialysis clinic would notice any problems and deal with them before it’s too late.
While these two cases are reasonably high-profile, malpractice dialysis suits are not as common as you think. In most cases, the medical staff are competent and experienced, willing to listen to their patients and make adjustments accordingly.
Some patients feel that their doctors don’t listen. Especially in non-profit clinics, where facilities are understaffed and overworked, medical professionals may find themselves with little time available to care for individual patients.
If you feel that something is seriously wrong, talk to your doctor immediately. If you feel that you’re being brushed off, persevere. There’s no need to shout or get angry, but be very firm and clear about your concerns. Treating the medical staff kindly and reasonably will make them more likely to listen to you.
If necessary, get a second opinion. Go with your gut feeling, but it’s also important to have faith in medical professionals. These people care about you and your health.
Malpractice lawsuits are worrying, but they’re very much the exception rather than the norm.
