missed fractures

Missed fractures consistently rank in the top list of medico-legal errors in the emergency department.   A few articles on the incidence of missed fractures Diagnostic errors in an accident and emergency department. Emerg Med J 2001;18:263-269. In an analysis of 953 diagnostic errors on injured patients, diagnostic errors included:  79% fractures, 2% dislocations, 2%…

missed AAA

As William Osler said, “There is no disease more conducive to clinical humility than aneurysm of the aorta.” Ruptured AAA classically presents as abdominal pain radiating to the back, shock and a pulsatile abdominal mass. But like all “classic” presentations this occurs in a minority of cases and there is a high misdiagnosis or delayed…