Medical History Records Errors

When a patient is injured, their attending physician and nurses will record the condition or injury and any further medical action taken for that patient. This builds a comprehensive medical history for doctors to use later in case there is an important part of a person’s medical history that may determine what treatments are safe. However, a hospital may fail to keep their patient’s history available or updated due to negligent record-keeping. This can pose some serious health threats.

A hospital needs to take special care to update or add information to a person’s medical history as it happens. In case this patient is transferred between doctors or even hospitals, the medical history documents can be the only way a new physician will know what diagnoses have been previously offered. Additionally, these records mark off what treatments that patient was given. If a doctor does not know what drugs a patient is already taking, they may make a serious error by giving them a drug that mixes poorly with their current treatment.

In addition to failing to update a patient’s records, a hospital may not draw up the correct patient history when making decisions. The wrong chart can be associated with a patient, complicating what treatments are given and changing their medical history often for the worse.

If you or someone you love has suffered because of poor record-keeping at a hospital, there may be legal action available. For more information regarding your legal options, contact a records error lawyer.