Medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the Virginia. In medical malpractice cases, there are ways that you can protect yourself by asking questions and ensuring the accuracy of your medical records. 

According to Healio, medical records are supposed to be electronic. They are called EMR and there are a ton of problems that can occur in the electronic medical records. If you are in the hospital, for instance, and you are there for a surgery, you need to remember the surgeon that has been assigned to you or the surgeon that is coming to take care of you. That’s your only doctor. But that doctor has many patients. His job is to do surgery that day on many patients. The doctor relies on the electronic medical record to perform that surgery. 

As important as you think you may be in that doctor’s perspective, the doctor has a lot of patients, and the doctor relies on the medical record and not his memory of you to perform the operation. If there’s a problem in the electronic medical record and that problem gets to the doctor, that’s where something very bad can occur with your surgery operation.  If the doctor was to check you out and you were awake, you would be able to tell the doctor what the problem is. 

In surgery cases, you can’t do that because you are under anesthesia. The only thing that can protect you is what’s in your electronic medical record. It is going to tell the doctors and the professionals in the operating room what needs to be done. If that is wrong, there’s going to be catastrophic results for you. 

This information should not be taken as legal advice.