Hospitals and medical facilities across the U.S have some of the most well-trained doctors in the world. They also have access to some of the most advanced medical equipment and technology. While all of this is important, there are also some more basic components that...
As someone with a chronic medical condition, you know your body the best. You have worked for years to develop a good rapport with your regular health care providers, and you trust them. What happens, however, when you’re in a crisis and you have to seek emergency...
It’s never wise to assume that a heart attack is going to look the same in every patient. The symptoms can vary tremendously. For men, the main symptom is chest pain. This pain may be very severe and may radiate down the left arm. Men may also complain about chest...
You might understand if a doctor struggles to diagnose an incredibly rare condition. They may never even have heard of it, let alone seen someone with it or understand what the warning signs are. Yet most medical misdiagnoses do not relate to rare conditions but to...
Medical errors are a significant problem in the health care industry. Anything can go wrong during a routine checkup or complex procedure, from miscalculations to misdiagnoses. A recent study found that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the...
There are some health conditions that the immune system can shake off, but these are usually very minor. For more severe and complex ailments, you are going to have to rely on medical intervention. Doctors train for many years before they are permitted to practice....
The term “retained foreign bodies” (RFBs) is the medical way of describing items left behind unintentionally when a patient undergoes surgery. Surgical staff typically need to account for every item used during surgery, including gauze and clamps. RFBs could cause...
It is estimated that someone has a stroke every 40 seconds, and almost 800,000 people experience this yearly. Unfortunately, not all cases of strokes are diagnosed properly. In fact, misdiagnosis of strokes leads to 40,000 to 80,000 preventable deaths in the U.S....
Your expectations are probably high when you go to the hospital for a scheduled surgery or emergency procedure. Medical staff are expected to uphold a high level of care to ensure mistakes and injuries don’t occur. Unfortunately, these things still happen. Surgical...
Anesthesia is one of the best scientific breakthroughs in medicine. That said, it’s not without its flaws. About 17,116 patients suffered from anesthesia errors between the years 2007 and 2014. Though the error risk is small, complications and errors due to...