We might not realize this, but every time we go to the hospital, we put a lot of trust in the hands of doctors. We are confident that these specialists will do their best to help and heal us. However, what we often forget is that they’re still humans who are prone to errors. Sometimes, very detrimental ones that threaten lives and put healthcare institutions in tough situations. To learn more about this, a trauma surgeon under the nickname trauma.bae on TikTok asked fellow medical workers to share the most shocking hospital mistakes that had harrowing consequences. Our Bored Panda team collected the top answers to her question, which you can see for yourself down below.
It was my best friend’s first baby. went in because her water broke. they sent her home and said she peed herself. turns out her water did break and baby was w/o amniotic fluid for 24 hrs. she went in for an emergency C-section. she kept telling the Drs that her legs were not numb yet, they started cutting anyways. she screamed so loudly until she passed out from the pain.
Studies and reports claim that medical errors take between 250,000 and 440,000 people’s lives in the US every year. This makes hospital mistakes the third most common cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
Misdiagnosis in particular causes 371,000 deaths and 424,000 permanent disabilities in the US each year, which totals almost 800,000 people harmed by healthcare institutions due to incorrect diagnosis.
Diagnostic errors often happen because healthcare staff attribute nonspecific symptoms to something more common and sometimes less serious than the condition they actually have, experts say.
“Occasionally, we have people who get inappropriate treatments for a disease they don’t have, and they suffer harms from that,” said Dr. David Newman-Toker, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University. “Much more common is a life-threatening disease that is missed because the manifestations are milder or less obvious.”
A simple human error in the medical field can cost lives, which is very unfortunate. However, sometimes, mistakes happen not because of human error but because of the way the healthcare system itself is operating. System failures, inadequate or unclear communication between healthcare professionals, and staff shortages are common causes of medical mistakes, too. This makes it difficult to discern how malpractice such be punished and who is responsible for it.
My son’s grandmother was being treated for cancer. A nurse didn’t take note that she had already administered the chemo and she was double dosed, it killed her. Major lawsuit that the family won.
Even though the scope of medical mistakes seems very significant, there’s less than a 0.1% chance that a person will suffer serious harm from misdiagnosis after a health care visit. Therefore, experts advise not to lose faith in the healthcare system, as no one is more knowledgeable than doctors in hospitals to help us with various health concerns.
My mom’s boyfriend went to the ER with complains. They scheduled him for an MRI. We had to chase them down the hallway-tv drama style. Not one dr or nurse read in his chart that he had a pacemaker.
I worked in Florida and the absolute worst a pts lung biopsy tested + for Cancer. The surgeon removed the Wrong lung 🫁 then tried to cover it up. We were on CNN.
My mom had the most insane headache ever & was displaying other symptoms w/ intense back pain. They thought she only wanted narcotics & sent her away. Turned out to be meningitis and she has a CS leak
My grandfather was turned away from an ER because he couldn’t speak and the person in charge thought he was being racist by not speaking. Turns out it was a brain aneurysm.
Our transplant status was revoked because there was a doctor picking and choosing who got organs by falsifying records to make certain people seem like worse candidates.
Our neonatologist refused to do our sons lifesaving surgery and said we should just let him pass away at 3 days old. The surgery worked btw.
My sisters OB recorded her blood type incorrectly so she never received her RH shot like she should have, she had to deliver a stillborn. They told her it happened because she was unmarried…
I’m allergic to propofol. It’s in my chart. Dr. at Mayo Clinic gave it to me anyways and lied saying I agreed to it although the nurses said I didn’t. I needed 3 epis &was in icu bc of this.
Nurse at a major pediatric hospital ran a tube feed into a NICU patient’s ET tube. Punishment was her having to talk about the mistake in an educational video about sentinel events and it was made into an EDUCATION MODULE that all nurses at that hospital had to complete.
They told my dad he just had sciatica, my dad had a tumor the size of a grapefruit growing on his femur and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
Nurse tried to send me home on concussion protocol, refusing a CT, after I got one it was discovered I had 3 brain bleeds and was rushed to ICU
They said my records showed I was HIV+ after I went in concerned I was in prelabor. I was hysterical, 8 months pregnant, confused looking at my hubby and him looking at me! It was an error.
This one nurse was checking a man’s blood pressure consistently throughout the day. the guy was dead. she didn’t report it. she made up the blood pressures.
When my father had a heart attack the EMTs took him to a hospital 35 mins away vs the newly renovated one 3 blocks away 😁 he died
My mom had surgery in her neck. They accidentally left gauze in her neck. They had to cut her open again to take it out. She won that lawsuit quick & gave me $20,000
My grandma went in for a normal colonoscopy. Died on the table twice because they punctured her small intestines. They were able to get her stable and she’s ok now thank God.
Doctor attempted a risky procedure to deliver baby. Ended up internally decapitating said baby and another one a month later. The risky move wasn’t even needed he just wanted to try it. Still licensed
Gave patient the wrong blood and they died
Routine colonoscopy, not given enough anesthesia, so much pain caused muscles to tighten up, scope scraped my instine, massive gi bleed. Need transfusions and spent 4 days in the hospital
Pt complaining of heart burn for weeks. Was only 30. ER refused an EKG or anything because “he’s too young for heart problems.” Discharged him. He died that night in his bathroom.
Told us my sister was faking being sick bc she was fat(they literally used the word, she was 11) turns out it was actually cancer that went undiagnosed for another 2 years until it [ended] her
Guy comes in unresponsive. Hospital calls family saying he’s basically brain dead. Family says pull the plug. Turns out they mixed him up w/ his roommate.