It is unquestionable that medical malpractice claims have been on the rise. In the 1970s, a study was conducted and found that 1 out of 20 patients who received treatment in a hospital were injured due to medical malpractice. In addition, 1 out of 10 such patients died as a result of medical malpractice injuries. A similar study was conducted in the 1980s, which found that approximately 1 in 4 patients on average was possibly injured due to medical care they received in hospitals. Current statistics show that about 100,000 patients die every single year due to medical malpractice mistakes.

Birth injuries are one of the most common types of medical malpractice injuries. Complications can occur during childbirth, which can lead to injury or death to the mother, baby, or even both. This especially holds true when the obstetrician fails to provide proper care either before or during the baby's delivery. Such negligent care may include a failure to give certain blood tests that can detect fetal abnormalities, a failure to recognize signs of distress in the fetus, failure to identify signs of respiratory distress, failure to provide adequate prenatal care, failure to deliver a baby by Caesarian section when necessary for the health of the mother and/or baby, rushing the delivery of the baby resulting in a breech birth and broken bones, or failing to provide proper care to a premature baby.

A doctor's negligence can lead to some serious medical malpractice injuries and also due to negligent medical care provided in prenatal care or in the delivery room can cause many serious injuries to the baby, including:

• Cerebral Palsy: A condition involving permanent brain damage to the brain's motor control centers. This disorder results in motor dysfunction, such as spasms and a lack of coordination of the muscles.
• Erb's Palsy (also known as Brachial Palsy): An injury caused to the nerves surrounding a baby's shoulder. This injury occurs when the baby is unable to exit the birthing canal, thus causing paralysis in the arms.
• Facial Paralysis: An injury to the facial nerves, often as a result of delivery using forceps.
• Clavicle Fracture: Often a result of breech births, this injury occurs when the clavicle or collarbone of the baby breaks.

A great deal of medical malpractice injuries takes place during surgical procedures. Most such injuries are often caused by negligent pre-operative care and planning, which can lead to serious irreversible injuries, or even death. Some examples of surgical injuries include improperly administration of anesthesia, negligent surgical technique, the puncture of internal organs, operating on the wrong body part, performing the wrong procedure on a patient, closing up the patient without removing all surgical implements and instruments, and failure to diagnose and/or treat infections that arise post-operatively. Such negligent medical care can result in:

• Asphyxia: Loss of oxygen to parts of the body or suffocation
• Blindness
• Paralysis
• Injured organs
• Brain injuries
• Amputation
• Cardiovascular injuries
• Coma
• Death

Other medical malpractice injuries, which can occur during surgery are related the vital importance of maintaining a sterile environment during such procedures. If the surgical environment is not kept completely sterile serious infections or bleeding can result, which can have fatal consequences. Infections can also occur during a blood transfusion, especially when the incorrect blood type is given to a patient.

Another common type of medical malpractice injury involves the failure to properly diagnose a disease or the misdiagnosis of a disease. Most often these cases involve a serious, life-threatening disease, such as cancer, where time is of the essence. Malpractice will occur where a prudent doctor in the same situation would order certain medical tests, closely follow a patient, or simply recognize the patient's symptoms as suspicious. A failure to diagnose a disease, or a misdiagnosis, can often lead to affliction of a serious disease that could have been prevented, chronic pain, or death.