Chronically Ill Kids at High Risk of Medical Errors

Medical malpractice can of course occur regardless of the age of the patient. There are, however, important differences in how medical mistakes affect different age groups.
One recent study focused on medical errors and how they affected children in the U.S. Overall, medical mistakes are involved in the cases of about three percent of hospitalized children. But this risk increased substantially for children with chronic health conditions.
Children with chronic ailments tend to have longer hospital stays. Additionally, the study counted poor reactions to surgery, like an infection, as medical errors. The researchers also counted codes, such as complications that were atypical in specific procedures, and looked at hospital discharge records in order to gather their data. Other potential medical errors included bedsores and adverse reactions to medication.
Also used in the research were numbers from a government database. The data indicated that among kids hospitalized in 38 states in 2006, nearly half of those children had at least one chronic health condition. Chronic health issues include digestive disorders, asthma, cancer and diabetes.
For hospitalized children with no chronic health ailments, medical errors occurred in about 1.3 percent of the cases. But for those with a chronic issue, errors increased to over five percent.
It is perhaps intuitive that children with chronic issues may be at risk for more medical mistakes simply due to more time at the hospital or more complicated illnesses. However, this does not mean that doctors, hospitals and parents should ignore these findings. Regardless of the child’s condition, surgical errors or other negligent medical care that lead to injury need to be addressed. Children already suffering should not be subjected to additional harm and injured patients may be able to recover compensation from the responsible party.