Residents are physicians who are still completing their training and work under a more established doctor who is known as an attending. Residents are actual doctors; however they are still completing their education. Often times, these doctors are extremely proficient in their area of expertise and perhaps try even harder than their more experienced counterparts. Since they are working on their careers and attempting to establish a good reputation and name for themselves, top notch service, care, and diagnoses play a pivotal role.
As is the case with any type of doctor in any field, most residents do their job quite well and keep their patients healthy and happy. As is also the case with doctors in any field, there are also times when mistakes are made, evidence is overlooked, and patients are harmed instead of helped.
When these issues arise, a form of malpractice has occurred. If you or someone you know has been the victim of such an incident, you should know that you do have legal rights and you can effectively protect your rights by hiring a personal injury attorney.
One common reason for malpractice on behalf of a medical resident has to do with fatigue and burn out. Residents are under a great deal of stress and this can lead to the professional feeling overwhelmed. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that the stress and fatigue experienced by medical residents is a contributing factor to "self perceived medical errors".
The researchers who took part in the study found that fatigue and stress combined were major factors that contributed to a significant increase in medical errors. Distress and fatigue on the part of medical residents is a serious concern as it has been shown to have an impact on patient safety.
Distress, which is also known as burn out, happens over a period of time and is due in part to the stress that encountered from the job itself, combined with the number of hours spent working at that job. Fatigue is a bit different, and can happen within a short period of time, such as a twenty four hour span. This often occurs when a resident is required to conduct medical tasks in a long or double shift, without a rest.
Malpractice on the part of residents can be prevented by taking certain steps. The first thing that needs to be done is to limit the number of hours that are worked by the residents. The majority of residents are put through the ringer, in a sort of hazing initiation, in which they are required to work a large number of hours at one time. In some cases, they are put on call for thirty six hours or more, and subjected to humiliation if mistakes are made. When a resident if forced to work long hours, it is inevitable that the quality of care is going to be poor. How well would you do your job after such a long stretch? Not only that, no patient wants to be the one who is treated by a doctor who has had no sleep for that many hours. No one would want to have anything done by a person who has had no sleep for thirty six hours or more. However, it is still very common for the medical community to ignore the first rule of medicine, "Do no harm", and force their residents and their patients to take unnecessary risks with their care.
To compound this issue, a recent article that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that medical facilities admit that it is more cost effective to work residents one hundred hours per week than to hire additional employees. This was found to be the case even when the amounts paid out for medical malpractice lawsuits were taken into consideration.
Some believe that money should not be the guiding force in the medical community when it comes to making decisions for public health. Because this is the case there are many people that believe the federal government should place regulations on the industry to protect patients from unnecessary harm. The government has successfully done this in other industries, such as trucking. Here the government placed regulations on the number of hours a truck driver can be on the road without taking a break.
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for this problem. Until the time that there is, residents are going to continue to make mistakes at the expense of their patients. If you or someone you know has been harmed by a resident, you should not delay in seeking assistance from a personal injury attorney who specializes in the area of medical malpractice.
These professionals are highly skilled with these types of cases, and will work hard to get you the justice you deserve. While a personal injury attorney cannot undo the harm that has already been done, he or she can help you to rebuild the broken pieces of your life by obtaining monetary compensation for your injuries.
Since the majority of personal injury attorneys do not require any type of payment until the time your case settles, you do not have to worry about how to pay for your claim in advance. This can provide you with a great deal of comfort knowing that a professional is taking care of you from a legal standpoint so that you can focus on your personal health and recovery.
Compensation in malpractice claims can be obtained for past, present, and future medical bills, pain and suffering, loss of income, and in some cases for punitive damages. Punitive damages are commonly awarded as a means to punish those responsible for the injuries in the hope that similar actions will not occur in the future. Because these cases can be quite complex, you should not attempt to file on your own. Doctors have legal teams working to protect their interests, and you should have a legal professional in your corner working hard to protect yours.
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