Resident Malpractice

The following information on Medical Resident Malpractice is provided by Pritzker Olsen Attorneys. Our lawyers have appeared on CBS, Fox and local television stations discussing litigation and public safety issues. Attorney Fred Pritzker is listed in the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America. For a free consultation with a malpractice lawyer, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the Pritzker Olsen online consultation form for his review.

Medical Resident Malpractice: Burn Out and Fatigue

Resident errors may be caused by both stress and fatigue.

According to Mayo Clinic researchers, “distress and fatigue among medical residents are independent contributors to self-perceived medical errors.”

“We looked at distress and fatigue together and found that both factors can lead to a significant risk of medical error,” says Colin West, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic physician and lead author of the study. “Both fatigue and distress among medical residents represent a potential concern for patient safety.”

Distress, or burn out, happens over time and is related to both the stress of the job and the hours spent working. Fatigue can happen in 24-hour period during which a resident is expected to perform medical tasks without rest.

Resident Malpractice Prevention:
Limit the Number of Hours Residents Work

What some (most) medical residents are put through is a little like a hazing process. They are tortured with long hours and sometimes purposely humiliated. If a resident is on call for 36 hours—it still happens—the quality of care is going to be diminished. No one would want a doctor to treat them who has not had sleep for 36 hours. No one would even want someone to cut their hair that has not had sleep for 36 hours.

Apparently the need for slave labor is the reason the medical community ignores “First, do no harm” and forces medical residents (and their patients) through a living hell.

According to an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, it is more cost effective to have resident physicians to work 100 hours per week than to hire more help, even taking into account amounts paid out for medical malpractice claims.

If money is keeping the medical profession from making good public health choices, the federal government should step in and regulate the industry. They have done this for other industries, including the trucking industry, where federal regulations limit the number of hours a truck driver can drive.

Resident Doctor Malpractice Lawsuit:
Free Consultation and Lawyers not Paid Unless You Win

If you would like a free consultation about your resident malpractice case, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit our online form. You will not have to pay any up-front fees, and we are not paid unless you win.

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Medical Malpractice Topics

Pharmacy Error Settlement

Our law firm recently negotiated a settlement for the family of a woman who was given ten times the prescribed dose of cochicine.

$950,000 Recovery for Failure to Diagnose Septic Arthritis

Attorneys Fred Pritzker and Elliot Olsen recently secured a $950,000 recovery on behalf of a young man who developed septic arthritis eight days following knee surgery.

Heart Lead Extraction Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Pritzker | Olsen attorneys are representing patients and their families nationwide in product liability and medical malpractice cases involving defective Medtronic Sprint Fideles defibrillator leads. Several patients have died during surgery to remove the defective Medtronic lead.

Dental Malpractice: Oral Surgery and Burn Injuries

The FDA has recently stated that poorly-maintained dental equipment has resulted in severe burns. These cases could involve both dental malpractice and product liability claims.

Hospital Malpractice Lawsuits

Hospital malpractice includes any type of medical negligence that occurs in a hospital setting, including errors by doctors, nurses, technicians and other hospital staff.

Neurosurgery Errors

Surgical errors are common and can lead to serious injury or death. In an article in the medical journal Neurosurgery that reported on a study of 1108 elective neurosurgical procedures, a neurosurgeon recorded 2684 errors in 87.1% of the cases. 22.6% of the errors were considered major. 78.5% of the errors were deemed preventable.

This is attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The result of each case is determined by the specific facts and the applicable law.

Practice Areas

Medical Malpractice

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