Medical errors can be life-changing for children and their parents. We trust medical professionals and nurses to take good care of our children, but serious mistakes can happen – and if they do, families feel let down, and children face the consequences.
Failure to diagnose serious illness in small children is a common mistake, not always neglectful because of the challenges clinicians face in obtaining a clear history or distinguishing the symptoms of a harmless virus from a life-threatening disease. But despite those challenges, there are “red flag” signs which should lead to a more detailed examination of a child’s problems, and a failure to and a failure to act when those symptoms arise may give a reason for a claim.