The most tragic and mundane of malpractice

The TV show “House” gives vivid descriptions of unusual diseases wreaking havoc that can only be saved by a brilliant team of professionals thinking outside the box for the one tropical berry that could have caused the symptoms. With medical malpractice cases, we rarely bring cases against the doctor who had never heard about the infamous tropical berry and its repercussions.   Instead, the most frequent medical malpractice cases are those that are the most ordinary, the most mundane.

• Not giving a necessary medicine
• Giving the wrong medicine
• Leaving behind clamps and parts of instruments
• Failing to recognize well-known diseases when they occur

These are some of the most typical medical malpractice cases attorneys see. Yet little compares to the callousness and banality of what happened to this gentleman in New York.  This article from Salon details the tragic, wholly unnecessary story of a gentleman who dies after checking into an emergency room because it appears nobody paid attention to him. Yes, he died waiting for someone to help him and after nearly 9 hours someone noticed he was dead. We do not yet fully know why this happened – I hope there will be a thorough investigation. For someone to die like this is tragic, and I hope we do not ever see it repeated.