Birmingham Injury Blog

The Indiana Injury Law Blog has posted an article about "internal factors" that cause doctors to make fatal medical errors. A Mayo Clinic study has shown that the amount of medical mistakes made by residents increases with the doctor's stress and fatigue. The study followed 430 medical residents who were questioned every three months from 2003 to 2008 about their stress levels, burnout, sleepiness, fatigue, depression and the number of medical errors they made.

• Out of 370 residents who answered questions about medical errors, 39 percent admitted that they had made at least one major medical error. • There was also a connection between these medical errors and tiredness. The researchers found that for every single point increase in fatigue, the resident's chances of making a medical error increased by 14 percent. • Also, for every single point increase in the sleepiness score, the chances of making an error increased by 10 percent. • Besides sleepiness and fatigue, medical errors were also more frequently seen in doctors suffering from depression, or experiencing burnout symptoms.

Clearly, a doctor's quality of life is directly related to how he/she will care for patients. Every year approximately 100,000 people die from "preventable medical errors" in the U.S.