Lubbock County Texas Medical Malpractice Law Blog

While surgical procedures can save and improve the lives of many Texas residents, there are occasions when surgery goes wrong. When it does, complications that arise can result in errors that can have a negative impact on both the person's life and his or her family members' lives.

When complications from surgical procedures do arise, corrections can sometimes be made, especially if the patient alerts the doctors of any pain or other potential problems immediately after the surgery. For example, a 76-year-old patient who had a total knee arthroplasty immediately alerted doctors to her pain following the surgery. Her surgeon found a tear in an artery in the area of the surgical site after ordering a Doppler ultrasonography. The surgeon was able to fix the tear, allowing blood flow to be restored.

For some, relying on contact lenses or glasses can be a daily annoyance. However, LASIK surgery can reduce a person's reliance on these medical devices while still having clearer vision. The surgery changes the shape of the cornea to make the person's vision clearer permanently. However, as with all medical procedures, there are some risks associated with this particular procedure.

The risks associated with LASIK are varied. For example, some people may develop debilitating medical complications with their vision, such as double vision, glare and haloes. If the surgery is not performed correctly, a patient could still have to rely on glasses or contacts to see correctly. Dry eye syndrome, which is a condition where a person's eyes cannot produce enough tears, is another health risk that can have an impact on a person's comfort. The surgery is relatively new, meaning the effectiveness of the procedure in the long term is not known.

Although a misdiagnosis of cancer is rare, it can be devastating for Texas patients who undertake an aggressive treatment or delay treatment as a result. For example, one woman who was erroneously diagnosed with breast cancer had a double mastectomy before learning she had been misdiagnosed. Studies have estimated that the incidence of misdiagnosis ranges from under 2 up to 10 percent.

Misdiagnoses may happen for several reasons. Tests could be mislabeled or placed in the wrong file. However, interpreting biopsy results is also not an exact science. For some types of cancer, biopsy results tend to return a more objective picture than others. For example, diagnosing lung cancer is relatively straightforward, but prostate cancer, breast cancer and melanoma are more subject to errors in diagnoses. In addition to diagnosing the cancer itself, it is also necessary to determine what stage the cancer is at. Getting this wrong can be as harmful as a misdiagnosis because the stage the cancer has reached determines how the treatment will proceed. Studies have also shown that doctors may feel pressured by patients and family members to make a definitive diagnosis.

Texas residents who have diabetes rely not only on doctors but on pharmacists as well. About one-third of diabetes patients use insulin and may require counseling on how to correctly administer it. A new article that serves as a primer for pharmacists covers current diabetes treatment options and suggests ways that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can offer counseling and increase patient safety.

In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration has approved many new treatments for diabetes. The peer-reviewed article, which was published by the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, discusses how treatment options have changed and advises pharmacy teams on situations to be aware of. For example, because about 20 percent of insulin users administer the wrong dose, pharmacists are advised to counsel patients who have recently been prescribed a different dose or different product.