Summary Of The T. V. Abelson's Case

Identify the most important facts surrounding the case: Dr. Y, a physician working for a group practice, is concerned about Mr. Abelson’s neurological status. Dr. Y scheduled Mrs. Abelson to be admitted to the hospital for testing. Mrs. Abelson is a 67-year-old female patient of Dr. Y. She was admitted to the hospital for a Cerebral Scan. Mrs. Abelson was admitted to the 4th floor of the hospital. After Mrs. Abelson completed the testing, she was returned to a room on the 5th floor. Mrs. Abelson was taken to surgery the morning after her cerebral scan. • The hospital performed an open-heart procedure performed on Mrs. Abelson. Her surgery took over an hour. Dr. Y called the hospital to check on his patient. The hospital realized that they had
The outcome of the extra surgery that was performed on Mrs. Abelson posed negative outcomes that could have increased the risks for a heart attack, internal bleeding, infection, and risk of heart attack. The hospital, the primary physician, the surgical physicians, and the surgical nurses were sued for malpractice. The settlement was $2 million. Medical errors are now the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. Medical errors can occur in almost any healthcare setting, including hospitals, clinics, surgery centers, and medical offices (Carrie, 2018). The most common types of medical errors are missed or delayed diagnosis, medication errors, delay in treatment, infections, inadequate follow-up after treatment, inadequate monitoring after a procedure, technical medical errors, and surgical errors (Carrie, 2018). In this case study, the hospital operated on the incorrect patient. This is classified as wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient errors (WSPEs). These wrong-site, wrong procedure, wrong-patient errors (WSPEs) are termed “never events” by the National Quality Forum and “sentinel events” by the Joint Commission are errors that should never occur and indicate serious underlying safety problems (Woods,