Medical Negligence and The Scandal of the 1990’s

The world of medicine is highly complex and quite challenging for many who study it. Those that choose to become health care workers do so more as a calling rather than a decided subject of choice as it is for the most dedicated people. Being a health care worker whether it is a carer, nurse or physician the job on hand is at times ambitious to say the least and in most cases takes a specific kind of person to do the job precisely. It is not for the faint hearted but those that offer much of their lives up t their Hep C Negligenceprofession. Those that work within the health industry provide a service that is needed by people almost at one if not many times in their lives without such a health service that we are so privileged to have people’s health would not be as it is today. Whenever a person is ill or injured one of the first places they go is to seek medical treatment and as such services are often provided around the clock people are sufficiently served.

There are some occasions though when such services are allowed to fall beneath what is expected of  and even the slightest of medical errors can cause people to suffer further ill health than they already would of if the service provided would have been at the standard expected. Medical negligence can often occur when a service is being provided by a health care worker that is considered sub-standard and as a result the patient has in some been harmed as a direct result. Such negligence can take place in any area of medicine or the health industry and can often leave people with further ill health.

Medical Negligence has probably been around as long as medicine itself and can take place in a variety of surroundings not just on the grounds of a hospital or within a GP’s surgery. It is possible for it to occur where ever health care treatment is being provided even in a person’s home if a person is being treated health wise there. A health care worker can be responsible for medical negligence and this can be anyone from a carer, nurse, dentist or doctor.

Hepatitis C and Medical Negligence

During1989 Doctor Harvey J. Alter discovered hepatitis C, by this time both hepatitis A and B had already been discovered but as an unknown virus was still showing up in blood tests but were not hepatitis A or B further investigations took place. However up until the early 1990’s people giving blood were still not being screened for hepatitis C which obviously resulted in some of those needing blood transfusions being transferred infected blood containing hepatitis C. It was only during 1992 that precise and accurate testing for hepatitis C occurred. Therefore it can be said that due to the fact that the discovery of hepatitis C was known years before that bloods should have been screened more meticulously and rigorously having known that another virus apart from hepatitis A and B could be present. It can even go further and say that blood screening for any infectious viruses should have been long put in to practice since the discovery of such viruses being present within the blood took place as early as 1960’s.

About Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a serious illness, it is a virus that affects and consequently damages the liver. A person can become infected with hepatitis C if they become in contact with a person’s blood that carries the virus. As there are no noticeable symptoms that the virus is present many do not know that they have the virus until the relevant tests are done or the liver is damaged and that flags up warning signs. If symptoms occur in the few they often reflect flu like symptoms in as much muscles ache and loss of appetite and can often mirror other illnesses. Other symptoms of the virus can include feeling tired and having a feeling of depression.

The bulk of the hepatitis C virus  is contained within the blood of the infected person so can be transmitted through equipment such as unsterilized equipment that has come in to contact with the hepatitis  C virus such as reused needles and products such as razors and toothbrushes.  It can also be transferred through unprotected sex but this is classed as rare and it is more common in North Africa, the Middle East and Central and East Asia. Antiviral medicines can control hepatitis C and stop it from multiplying and prevent liver damage.  As there are several types of hepatitis C people are treated differently and even cured form some types of the virus.

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