Federal government scrutiny of dialysis administration some years back sadly revealed a high number of mistakes that routinely occur with this important care-delivery function.
Indeed, and as noted on a website page at Dempsey Kingsland Osteen, discussing dialysis monitoring, “substantial deficiencies in the quality of care” were discovered by investigators from the Government Accounting Office at about 15 percent of all the dialysis centers they looked at across the country.
That is truly alarming, given that fatalities and instances of wrongful death can occur following negligent dialysis-related monitoring and administration.
And, indeed, the raw numbers regarding the mistakes of medical professionals tasked with providing dialysis care for people living with kidney disease are prohibitively high; the national Centers for Disease and Prevention recently estimated that well more than four million Americans have kidney disease, which can range from chronic kidney function impairment to so-called end stage renal disease. That latter condition is marked by total failure of a person’s kidneys, requiring hemodialysis to remove excess water and impurities from the blood.
Our medical malpractice attorneys at Dempsey Kingsland Osteen collectively bring many decades of on-point experience to their legal advocacy on behalf of dialysis-error victims and their families. We often find that inadequate training and substandard monitoring are primary catalysts underscoring adverse dialysis outcomes.
Those shortcomings are often revealed by evidence indicating contaminated and reused dialysis equipment; the improper administration of dialysate; patient blood loss owing to faulty blood draws; infections — such as sepsis — bred by insanitary hygiene; and other errors.
Dire patient outcomes for any of those reasons should never result and, absent negligence, they do not occur.
When they do, legal remedies are available to provide a meaningful monetary recovery and send a deterrent message by spotlighting mistakes that should be better guarded against in future cases.
We proudly play a role in patient protection against negligent medical care, and welcome readers’ visits to our website for relevant information relating to our firm.