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Surgical errors increase when doctors experience stress

by | Jan 11, 2019 | Medical Malpractice

Stress can negatively impact how well surgeons in New Jersey perform. Even minor stressors can have a deleterious impact on surgical performance and might lead to medical mistakes. It is important for surgeons to take steps to reduce their stress and for hospitals to make changes to operating rooms so that they have fewer situations that produce it.

According to a study that was published in the journal BLS Open, momentary stress can cause the medical error rate by surgeons to go up by 66 percent. There are multiple distractions in operating rooms. Some medical equipment beeps repeatedly or has alarms that sound. Equipment might malfunction and others may walk in and out of the operating rooms or have side conversations. All of these incidents may cause momentary stress and lead to mistakes.

Each year, an estimated 250,000 to 400,000 deaths happen because of medical errors, and many of the deaths happen when the patients are undergoing surgery. The researchers had a surgeon wear a specially designed shirt while he performed procedures. The shirt measured different indicators of stress, including rapid heartbeats, sweating, and others.

People who suffer serious injuries and the families of people who die during surgery because of medical mistakes may have legal rights. They might benefit from consulting with experienced medical malpractice lawyers about what happened in their cases. The attorneys may evaluate the facts and circumstances and explain whether the people have valid legal claims. If the attorneys agree to take the cases, they may work together with medical experts and others to secure the evidence that they need to build a strong case of liability. This might help their clients to recover compensation for their losses.