Does Lack of Communication Play a Role in Medical Malpractice?

By Staff Writer

Communication is one of the most important factors in any relationship. In fact, breakdown in communication is one of the top contributing factors in many divorce situations.

A recent study released by Crico Strategies examined communication to see if it was a contributing factor in many medical malpractice lawsuits. Unfortunately, the numbers indicate that it is.

The study analyzed clinical and legal records of 23,658 malpractice cases from 2009 to 2013. Researchers determined that in 30 percent of these cases, lack of communication was an issue between medical staff or between medical staff and patients. Many of these cases involved horror stories beyond what any family should have to go through. Out of these cases, 1,744 resulted in death.

Some examples of these nightmares include when a nurse forgot to tell a surgeon that a patient complained of severe abdominal pains and that she recognized a drop in the level of red blood cells, which is often an indication of internal bleeding. Due to her lack of communication, the patient died of hemorrhaging.

Another medical malpractice incident involved a diabetic patient leaving a message for her primary care doctor. The message, however, was not relayed to the physician by the medical staff. The individual then passed away from diabetic ketoacidosis. This could have been avoided had the doctor received the information and delivered proper instructions to the patient.

According to the study, hospitals and doctors’ offices could possibly have avoided 2,000 patient deaths and $1.7 billion in malpractice costs if proper communication practices had been made a priority.

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