The Pros And Cons Of Doctor Misdiagnosis

Nurses are the first to assess patients that are seeking health care services. Nurses are the Frontline Warriors who risk their own lives to provide care for others (Ungar, 2014). They are the Frontline Warriors who diagnose the care of patients to ensure doctor orders are accurate before care is practiced. A recent study estimates 12 million Americans are misdiagnose every year and 6 million results in serious outcome (Singh, Meyer & Thomas, 2013). Without effective communication and quality management protocols, misdiagnoses may cause possible harm to patients, healthcare workers, and the population. For instance, on September 24, 2014, Thomas Duncan, a man from Liberia in his early 40’s went to Texas Health

Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer. More than 200,000 people die annually as a result of diagnostic mistakes and negligence by healthcare professionals (Washingtonpost, 2016). In the healthcare industry, even the smallest mistakes and oversight could lead to severe consequences for both the patient and professionals. A healthcare professional would be held liable for any discrepancies that causes harm. The following case will analyze the ethical issue and negligence that lead to the death of an elderly woman.

Atul Gawande in his article “When the Doctor Makes Mistakes” exposes the mystery, uncertainty and fallibility of medicine in true stories that involve real patients. In a society where attorneys protect hospitals and physicians from zealous trials from clients following medical errors, doctors make mistakes is a testimony that Gawande a representative of other doctors speak openly about failures within the medical fields. In this article, Gawande exposes those errors with an intention of showing the entire society and specifically those within the medicine field that when errors are hidden, learning is squelched and those within the system are provided with an opportunity to continue committing the same errors. What you find when you critically analyse Gawande, “When Doctors Make Mistakes essay is how messy and uncertain medicine turns out to be. Throughout the entire article you experience the havoc within the medicine field as the inexperienced doctor misapplies a central line in a patient.

Concerns about AI also encompass whether it does create the most accurate diagnoses for patient care. Since AI uses large data banks to make decisions for what treatments may be best for a patient or for a diagnosis of an illness, people may be led to believe that this option is less personalized. Some people have made this belief since AI takes information from the general public to make a decision about an individual. However, research has shown that the accuracy of diagnoses when using data banks to make medical decisions is far more accurate than a diagnosis from a typical doctor. Also, doctors normally do not have the same opinions so that creates inconsistency for diagnoses, whereas AI would be consistent (Sissons, Ben. “Using Artificial Intelligence to Bring Evidence-Based Medicine a Step Closer to Making a Difference”). The average doctor gives correct diagnoses less than half the time. The accuracy for different diagnoses depend on the field of study. For example, the accuracy of AI for correctly diagnosing dermatological diseases was 97.55%. The accuracy for diagnosing a group of people with a certain type of diabetes came to be 79.37%, which is still higher than the average for a typical doctor (Lekkas, Stavros. “Evolving Fuzzy Medical Diagnosis of Pima Indians Diabetes and of Dermatological Diseases”). This research shows that AI is capable of making accurate diagnoses. Ethical concerns were

"Johns Hopkins patient safety experts have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error…" (John Hopkins Medicine). This soaring number has caused medical errors to become the third leading cause of death in the United States. For many people, medicine seems foreign and unknown. People who have lost loved ones due to medical error desperately look for a reason, and many times that blame falls upon doctors. Media has put a negative connotation on doctors as well, causing their reputation to plummet whenever a hospital procedure turns badly. A renown surgeon and author, Atul Gawande, uses his knowledge and experience to give people a new perspective on medicine. In the article "When Doctors Make Mistakes," Gawande uses rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos to prove the need for a change in the medical systems and procedures. He analyzes how the public looks at doctors, giving a new perspective to enlighten the reader that even the best doctors can make mistakes.

Blendon, R. DesRoches, C. Brodie, M., Benson, J. Rosen, A., & Schneider, A. (2002). Views of practicing physicians and the public on medical errors. New England Journal of Medicine. 347, 1933-1940.

When it comes to health care in the United States, the initial thought many people have are the many growing controversies concerning Obamacare, vaccinations, and making sure all Americans have access to affordable and quality health care. However, what many people fail to realize is a certain aspect in the medical community that, since the early 80’s with the infamous study by Berkman and Frankel, is increasing at such a tremendous rate that the Columbia Medical Review has referred to it as an “epidemic in the medical community.” The statistics regarding the number of individuals who die each year due to medical errors is rising; slowly becoming a major concern in the field. Doctors are busy individuals and at the end of the day still

Everyone in America, is at risk for being diagnosed with a condition that they don't have, and being prescribed medications they do not need. Its, everyday advertisments on TV for clients who may have had a missed diagnosis, and experienced a side effect from a medication they where prescribed, physicians try to follow national standards of care to protect themselves from lawsuit or even losing their licenses.

Millions of Americans surrender to conditions that are both preventable and manageable annually. Besides chronic diseases, researchers have identified that the third leading cause of death in America is the errors conducted by professional medical practitioners. While medicine is a highly considered field, some of the practices that contribute to the errors observed include the absence of patient safety, poorly coordinated care, and inefficient healthcare quality improvement. Significant steps that can be taken to reduce deaths caused by medical errors include good communication, cooperation, use of advanced technology and implementation of quality healthcare among

Medical technology encompasses a wide range of healthcare products and is used to diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases or medical conditions that affect humans. This may included but not limited too, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and medical equipment. Such technologies are intended to improve the quality of healthcare delivered through earlier diagnosis, less invasive treatment options and reductions in hospital stays and rehabilitation times. Recent advances in medical technology have also focused on cost reduction. Medical technology may include medical devices, information technology, biotech, and healthcare services. The impacts of medical technology may involve social and ethical issues. For example physicians may seek objective information from technology rather than listening to subjective patient reports. A major contributor of healthcare expenditure in America is the advancement of medical technology. According to several studies it is shown that there is a correlation between the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and money allocated to healthcare. One of the leading theories is that medical technology is growing faster than expected.

-- Misdiagnosing a patient is very serious, it could lead to consequences. When a doctor's diagnosis error leads to incorrect treatment, delayed treatment, or no treatment at all, a patient's condition can be made much worse, and they may even die.

As a child, I felt like a mutant with a horrible disease. I had a medical condition that no doctor could properly diagnose. I went to four different doctors and two specialists, yet not one could give me a straight forward answer as to why I feeling so horrible. Not only was I concerned, but so was my mother. At the age of five, I started what felt like countless tests to try to determine what was causing me to be in so much pain and be so nauseated that I would sleep on the bathroom.

Medical errors in the United States has been an intense topic of interest for politicians, researchers, and the general public alike for a number of years now. Concern about medical errors grew in the US following the release of “To ERR is Human: Building a safer Health System” report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). This apprehension most noticeably started during the Clinton administration; IOM released their groundbreaking report in 1999 during the Clinton administration. Results shed light on the reality of diagnostic errors and raised awareness to the public. The alarm created by IOM catapulted the matter to President Bill Clinton. According to Janet Brooks (2009) (a Canadian journalist who has completed

In observation, (Fahnestock, McComb, & Deshmukh, 2013) stated "Information technologies are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. Innovations such as computer-based patient records, hospital information systems, computer-based decision support tools, community health information networks and new ways of distributing health information.” (p.3.2). In the sector of delivering healthcare using technology, has made it easier for healthcare professionals to access medical records, digitization of prescriptions and view test results. With the use of high-performance devices being used in the hospital, helps to make the jobs of healthcare professionals a little easier. As well as relieve anxiety from anxious patients that may be awaiting lab results to come back. Therefore, IT devices and services has been and continues to be a tremendous help and game changer for the healthcare system. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to help shape and reform the healthcare

Hi I really like reading your post. However I do not agree wit you I don’t thin that that possibility to misdiagnose someone is high only because as social workers we are taught to recheck our work and if we are not sure something to ask a peer. But even if ethics had nothing to do with this situation, I think that since the client have to meet at least two of the criteria before coming diagnosis it only decreases the possibility of a misdiagnosis. Before the client sonly needs to meet one of the criteria, so it only makes sense that the possibility of misdiagnosis decreases. However I do understand your perspective on the situation. I actually like the changes tat has been made, because I el as though it allows room for more accurate diagnosis.