Learning From Medical Errors

Learning from Medical Errors

As medical litigation continues to increase, the best defence for doctors is to be aware of, and avoid, medical errors. This book focuses on the key legal issues including medical documentation, which reduce risk and liability when handled correctly. It contains chapters on difficult patients and special issues for emergency physicians. The case-based format demonstrates clinical relevance and useful examples are drawn from office, hospital and community settings. This book is the companion volume to Learning from Medical Errors: Clinical Problems which focuses on the most common clinical situations resulting in malpractice litigation. Learning from Medical Errors: Legal Issues is vital reading for all doctors, medical lecturers and teachers and medical lawyers.

Why Patients Sue Doctors; Lessons learned from medical malpractice cases

Why do patients sue their doctors? The answer is not straightforward. It is unlikely to be singular. One thing, however, is certain: the answer is important to the quality of health care. This book provides answers to this important question. In Why Patients sue Doctors the authors draw on their collective experience in over 1000 real-life medicolegal cases to explore why and how doctors make mistakes. By analysing and discussing the situations and behaviours that lead to complaints by patients and their families, this book provides practical guidance on how to improve clinical care and avoid litigation. The lessons learned will help practitioners in the future avoid some common clinical pitfalls of the past. This will be of immediate interest to anyone concerned about the quality of healthcare and how to improve it. The cases presented by the authors will also be of general interest to those wishing to know more about medical litigation.

Health Quality and Medical Errors