What Are the Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice?

When you go to a doctor, hospital, or clinic, you expect to receive safe, professional care. Most of the time, that’s exactly what happens. But sometimes medical providers make serious mistakes, and when those mistakes cause harm, the patient may have a medical malpractice claim.

Medical malpractice does not mean that a treatment simply didn’t work or that someone is unhappy with the outcome. It means a healthcare professional failed to act with the level of skill and care that other trained providers would have used in the same situation. Below are some of the most common ways medical malpractice happens and what each one means in everyday terms. If you or a loved one were harmed by a medical mistake at a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital, contact the California trial attorneys at Kalfayan Merjanian, LLP, to speak with a skilled and experienced California medical malpractice lawyer.

1. Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis

One of the most common forms of malpractice is when a doctor fails to diagnose a condition, diagnoses it incorrectly, or does not diagnose it soon enough. A missed or late diagnosis can delay important treatment, allowing the condition to get worse.

Examples include:

• A heart attack mistaken for indigestion
• A stroke misdiagnosed as a migraine
• Cancer symptoms brushed off as something minor
• Pulmonary embolism mistaken for pneumonia or heart attack
• Celiac disease confused with irritable bowel syndrome
• Thyroid conditions attributed to a lack of exercise or poor diet
• Fibromyalgia mistaken for arthritis
• Sepsis mislabeled as a UTI or staph infection
• Appendicitis misdiagnosed as gas pain or constipation

When the doctor should have recognized the signs but didn’t, and the patient suffers as a result, malpractice may have occurred.

2. Medication Errors

Medication errors can happen in several ways, including prescribing the wrong drug, prescribing the wrong dose, giving a patient a medication they’re allergic to, or mixing drugs that should not be taken together. These mistakes can lead to severe reactions, organ damage, or even death. Even in busy hospitals, doctors and nurses must take time to verify medications and doses before giving them to patients.

3. Surgical Errors

Surgery always carries risks, but some mistakes fall outside what is acceptable. Surgical malpractice may include, for example:

• Operating on the wrong body part
• Leaving surgical instruments or sponges inside the patient
• Cutting or damaging nearby organs or nerves
• Failing to monitor the patient properly during or after surgery

These errors often lead to infections, additional surgeries, long recovery times, or permanent damage.

4. Birth Injuries

Mistakes during pregnancy, labor, or delivery can cause lifelong harm to the mother, the child, or both. Examples include failing to monitor the baby’s oxygen levels, not recognizing signs of fetal distress, improper use of forceps or vacuum devices, and delayed C-section when the baby is in danger. Birth injuries can lead to serious conditions like cerebral palsy, nerve damage, or developmental delays.

5. Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia is extremely powerful, and even a small mistake can be deadly. Common anesthesia errors include giving too much or too little anesthesia, not checking the patient’s medical history or allergies, or failing to monitor breathing, heart rate, and oxygen levels during surgery. Anesthesia mistakes can cause brain damage, heart problems, and in some cases, death.

6. Failure to Treat (Improper Follow-Up Care)

Sometimes the diagnosis is correct, but the doctor fails to treat the condition properly. These mistakes include:

• Releasing a patient from the hospital too early
• Not ordering important tests
• Not referring the patient to a specialist
• Ignoring serious symptoms

When proper care is delayed or skipped altogether, the patient may get worse, and the provider may be responsible.

7. Emergency Room Errors

ERs are fast-paced and high-pressure, but healthcare providers must still meet accepted standards of care. Common ER mistakes include:

• Misreading X-rays or lab results
• Failing to take a full medical history
• Not recognizing urgent symptoms
• Mixing up patient charts

Because emergencies require quick decisions, errors can have immediate and serious consequences.

8. Defective Medical Devices or Equipment

Sometimes the problem isn’t the doctor; it’s the equipment. Medical malpractice can involve broken or poorly maintained equipment, faulty machines giving wrong readings, or devices that malfunction during treatment. If a provider uses equipment they should have known was unsafe, they may be responsible for resulting injuries. The device manufacturer may be liable as well.

When Is It Considered Malpractice?

For a mistake to count as medical malpractice in California, the injured patient must show that the healthcare provider owed a duty to provide proper care but failed to meet the accepted standard of care. The patient must also prove that the mistake caused an injury, and they must show how they were impacted in terms of extra medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and other legal damages. Because these cases are fact-heavy and require expert medical testimony, speaking with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer is usually the most important first step.

Hospitals and insurance companies fight malpractice claims aggressively. They often have teams of lawyers and medical experts working to deny or minimize claims. An attorney can investigate what went wrong, collect medical records and expert opinions, determine whether the provider violated medical standards, calculate the full value of the patient’s losses, handle negotiations and, if needed, take the case to trial.

Contact Kalfayan Merjanian, LLP to Review Your California Medical Malpractice Claim

If you or a loved one were harmed by a misdiagnosis, medication error, surgical mistake, or other form of medical negligence in California, contact the California medical malpractice lawyers at Kalfayan Merjanian, LLP. If retained, we will work to get you justice, accountability, and compensation for what went wrong.