More than 10 patients at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, North Carolina received incorrect diagnoses caused by laboratory Errors. The mistakes have caused the hospital to review over 9,000 cases—or risk the loss of Medicare funding. A detailed article on the errors appears here.
Significant Errors in Diagnosis
Among the patients already identified as misdiagnosed, three underwent surgery or radiation treatments they did not need. One of the three underwent a double mastectomy—despite not having breast cancer. A fourth patient did not have her breast cancer correctly diagnosed until 13 months after her biopsy. Such costly errors—all identified as errors in laboratory pathology—have led the hospital to review 9,291 cases in all.
Problems Put Funding at Risk
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has set a June 2019 deadline for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to review the cases in question. Failure to meet this deadline could cause the government to strip the hospital of its Medicare certification.
CMS notified the health system it had until June 12 to fix problems in its pathology labs and satisfy government inspectors. The errors identified include issues with training, equipment maintenance, outdated supplies, and incomplete documentation. Other concerns include failure to monitor water quality, environmental temperature, and humidity levels within the laboratory environment. Many of these problems date as far back as back 2014.
About Medical Malpractice
There is a standard of care all healthcare providers are expected to uphold. When that standard is compromised, your life may be at risk. Doctors aren’t the only medical personnel who can be held responsible for medical malpractice. From surgical mistakes to prescription errors, a variety of parties can be held responsible when medical negligence causes patients harm. Medical malpractice is one of the most complex areas of personal injury law—and building claims requires significant time and resources.
We Can Help
If you or a loved one has suffered injuries due to medical misdiagnosis, prescription errors, or surgical mistakes; call the experienced North Carolina Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Henson Fuerst today at 919-781-1107 or complete a free initial consultation form.
When you call, you will speak with one of our experienced Raleigh Personal Injury attorneys. They will investigate every detail of your situation at no cost to you—and fight hard to protect your rights. At Henson Fuerst, you will never pay an attorney’s fee up front—and you owe us nothing unless we recover for you.
Call Henson Fuerst, Because Your Case Matters