Medical Malpractices Are Widely Occurring Events - Essay Example

? Medical malpractices Medical malpractices are widely occurring events that take place in the medical filed, and these events have distinct characteristics. Medical malpractices are defined as professional negligence by healthcare professionals or providers resulting in poor quality services that are resultant in harm, injury or even death to patients involved (Boehm, 2005). This is to imply that medical malpractices are a failure by healthcare providers and professionals to provide services to patients or clients to the expected level and could be as a result of intentional negligence or accidental, but all the same, one that needs the professionals to take responsibility for their actions. It is said that a large number of medical malpractices are as a result of medical errors, in which a majority take place following mistakes in diagnosis and medication. This is in addition to health management, treatment and after care, with some of the causes being omission from the expected service to a patient. Some of the common malpractices or negligence in the medical field includes prescription of wrong drugs and wrong dosages, wrong diagnosis of patients’ conditions, operations on wrong parts of the body and poor services in times of admissions. In consideration of medical malpractices, there are certain conditions that are considered and these include the quality of service in regard to standard care, injurious harm to patients and damaging consequences from injurious harm. With these, medical malpractices are considered from social and legal perspectives in determination of cases involving medical staff engaging in negligent activities towards patients. Theoretical perspective Medical malpractices can be comprehended through the application of a number of sociological theories, but one that explains the issue best is that of symbolic interactionism. This because there are a number of aspects that are apparently illustrated by the theory whilst others leave out some crucial aspects of medical negligence. First off is the understanding of the main ideas of the theory in which case symbolic symbolism focuses mainly on the fundamental manners of interaction between individuals through the application of different symbols (Cockerham, n.d.). Symbols in this theory are not restricted to words written or unwritten, but are inclusive of social roles, regulations, values, words and other visual communication, in which words fall (Nelson, 1998). As such, by looking at the symbols, of utmost importance are the people and not the society as a whole in that it is these individuals that are capable of adapting to any or even every situation in regard to interpretation of the social symbols (McClelland, 2000). From the above perspective of looking at how the theory perceives society as being less important than the individuals in it, medial malpractices are directed at individuals and not at the society at large. This is in spite of the fact that the society stands to be affected substantially from these malpractices that are perpetrated against individuals. The theory of symbolic interaction pays particulate attention to the concept of social regulations and values, where there is a major concern pertaining to the status of medical practitioners and medical service providers. As such, the status of these members of the medical fraternity has a role to play in medical malpractices due to social perception (Morine, 2013). This is to mean that high social placement by the society improves social regulation through bolstering accountability due to the heightened sense of responsibility amongst medical staff. In addition to this, the theory applies to the explanation of medical malpractices following the ability to understand one another in relation to having skills and knowledge through focus on individuals in society and not the medical field as a whole (Drew, 2007). Through this, medical malpractices can be perceived as individual errors and not errors of the entre medical fraternity thus social values are set. In addition the theory is known to look into communication due the application of symbolic interaction trough written and spoken language, as well as individual actions of both medical staff and clients. Symbolic interactions theory looks into communication thanks to the presence of language in which case there is poor communication between medical practitioners and patients which is known to contribute significantly to medical malpractices due to poor communication in both written and spoken language, as well actions of both parties (Hamasaki et al). Consequently, the symbolic interactionism theory can be used to explain medical negligence by also looking at the needs of individuals paying visits to medical practitioners by considering the attention paid to individuals and not society. This way, it focuses at the individual capabilities and how medical malpractices can be eliminated by focusing on the issues at hand affecting each person. Based on this, misconceptions between medical practitioners and patients are bound to be eliminated and the problem clarified y heightening accountability amongst medical staff. The above is based on social regulations such as patient rights and margins of error for medical staff, which should fall within an acceptable threshold, but not to say plausible deniability (Boothman et al, 2009). Conclusion Symbolic interactionism theory, which looks into society as individuals and not as a collective entity demystifies the medical field, especially in regard to medical malpractices. This is because it splits the society into manageable bits, where each plays its own role and can stand on its own in spite of a sense of dependency. As such, there is the patient and the medical practitioner, and each is expected to play his or her role to the fullest and accountably. With this in mind, social convention, regulations and values spell out what is expected of each of the parties and to what extent one can execute his or her role. It is from this that individual practitioners that engage in malpractices are separated from the collective medical practitioners field and left to take responsibility for their own actions. In addition, it defines the role of communication, verbal and nonverbal, in medical practice for both medical staff and patients. This is to seek solutions to efficient communication and alleviation of medical malpractices for all to be safe. This is also to ensure that all individual needs are looked after effectively by looking at symbolic interactions of language and actions. As a result, symbolic interactionism simplifies medical malpractices by breaking them into their components as seen and seeks to correct the situation in application. References Hamasaki, T., Takehara, T., & Hagihara, A. (2008). Physicians' communication skills with patients and legal liability in decided medical malpractice litigation cases in Japan. BMC Family Practice, 91-10. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-9-43 Cockerham, W. (n.d.). Medical Sociology and Sociological Theory. Retrieved from http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_chapter/9780631217039/001.pdf Boothman, R. et al. (2009). A Better Approach to Medical Malpractice Claims? The University of Michigan Experience. Journal of Health & Life Sciences Law. Vol. 2 :2 Boehm, G. (2005). Debunking Medical Malpractice Myths: Unraveling the False Premises Behind "Tort Reform". Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics: Vol. 5: Iss. 1 Drew, S. K. (2007). Bedpans, blood and bile: Doing the dirty work in nursing. In S. K. Drew, M. Mills, & B. M. Gassaway (Eds.), Dirty work (pp. 113 - 132). Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. McClelland, K. (2000). Symbolic interactionism. Retrieved from http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Symbolic.html Morine, N. (2013). Sociology - Cooley’s “the looking glass self.” Suite. Retrieved from http://suite101.com/article/sociology-cooleys-the-looking-glass-self-a130814 Nelson, L. D.. (1998). Herbert Blumer's Symbolic Interactionism. Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Nelson.htm Read More