Various Effects of Defective Medical Equipment on Your Health

Modern medical practice is heavily dependent on machines and equipment to improve the quality of medical care. Medical equipment such as CT scanners help medical practitioners to easily monitor and diagnose health problems in their patients.

Some of the medical health issues that arise due to defective medical equipment include wrongful death, misdiagnosis, and delayed treatment. 

In cases where injuries occur due to defective medical equipment, you can file a medical malpractice claim against the health facility or the practitioner for their negligence.

For you to get a clear picture of the health impacts defective medical equipment has on you, this article will highlight their effects by citing examples.

Diagnostic Errors

Medical tests are the grounds for any treatment procedure. As such, the medical practitioner requires accurate results and conclusive tests before he can administer any treatment.

What Causes Diagnostic Errors?

A faulty medical equipment, such as a defective glucometer, gives inaccurate blood sugar levels. 

Eventually, the medical practitioner will end up misdiagnosing you and administering the wrong treatment.

Try to imagine a situation where the doctor tests your blood sugar levels using a glucometer that has a low battery. In this case, the blood sugar levels recorded will be inaccurate. The doctors will work with wrong insulin readings, and may even end up administering shots and unnecessarily raise the levels of your blood sugar. 

Therefore, a minor case of low battery power may end up causing you severe injuries, such as organ damage or even wrongful death.

For such a case of gross medical negligence, your medical malpractice lawyer Michigan will assess your medical reports and file a negligence lawsuit against the doctor.

Internal Injuries

Some medical equipment is designed to replace damaged body parts, such as joints and tendons. These medical devices are essential in prolonging our lifespan and reducing the pain and suffering associated with damaged body parts.

However, there are different circumstances where the medical device turns out to do more harm than good in our body. 

Faulty medical devices cause a lot of suffering far much worse than you were experiencing before the medical device was installed.

Most medical devices are made of metal (titanium or steel), which causes a lot of health problems if it is improperly fixed or contaminated. 

How Does Defective Medical Equipment Cause Internal Injuries?

Take an instance where you are having hip replacement surgery. The surgeons may mishandle the artificial hipbone, which might end up collecting malignant bacteria. 

The bacteria will cause infections on the flesh and bone mass around the joint, causing you excruciating pain. Consequently, the pain will only be greater if then the hip replacement is improperly done. 

However, you can sue for pain and suffering caused by surgical errors and medical negligence. What’s more, you can claim a monetary settlement for the future medical expenses you will incur when correcting and treating the injuries.

Wrongful Death

Losing a loved one is very painful and even more devastating if their death was avoidable if only the medical practitioner was a little bit more careful.

How Does a Defective Medical Equipment Cause Wrongful Death?

Mechanical hearts (pacemakers) and defibrillators are essential equipment that support or replace a weak and failing heart. 

A pacemaker that is improperly installed will develop a lot of mechanical problems (synchronization problems), causing wrongful death due to a ‘heart attack.’

Surgeons use a patient monitor to keep tabs on the vital organs during a surgical procedure. A faulty patient monitor will make it hard for the surgeons to do the follow-ups.

Events causing technical hitches in a patient monitor occur due to calibration errors, power interruptions, or using outdated software. 

Therefore, the untimely death caused by such negligence can be claimed in a medical malpractice lawsuit, where you can claim punitive and compensatory damages.

Before rushing to file a lawsuit, it is recommended to have your medical malpractice lawyer go through the details of the claim in order to establish merits for the lawsuit.

Conclusion

Defective medical equipment has a lot of serious health effects as discussed above in this article. However, most of the defects in medical equipment are preventable through routine checks and replacements. You should file a lawsuit against a negligent health facility or practitioner for injuries caused by defective medical equipment.