Medical Mistakes: To Err is Too Common
The wrong drug. The wrong dose. A diagnostic mistake. More than 2 percent of all hospital patients are victims of a medical error. Health care discussions need to address elimination of this problem.
December 10, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Medical Mistakes: To Err is Too Common
Article provided by Law Offices of Gary Osborne & Associates
Visit us at www.garyosbornelaw.com
A patient is being wheeled into surgery. If you pulled back his or her sheet you might see the words plainly spelled out in bold letters: bad leg. Labeling the area to be operated on isn't just precautionary, it's necessary.
HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization, conducted a study revealing that more than 2 percent of all hospital patients are victims of a medical error. Researchers reviewed a Medicare database, evaluating nearly 5,000 hospitals across the nation from 2005 to 2007, and found records of over 900,000 errors that led to medical problems. In another recent survey, 310 doctors at 22 U.S. healthcare facilities anonymously confessed to diagnostic errors they made or had witnessed; the two most frequently listed conditions involved pulmonary embolism and adverse drug reactions, including overdose and poisoning. Other diagnostic mistakes involved lung, colorectal and breast cancer, acute coronary syndrome and stroke. The doctors admitted to failing to order tests, report the results to their patients or follow-up when testing revealed abnormal findings to be concerned about.
While the figures are startling, the actual numbers may be much higher as there is currently no centralized system for tracking and monitoring medical errors, and hospitals remain reluctant to report them for fear of potential lawsuits.
The release of a 1999 study from the Institute of Medicine, To Err is Human, ignited attention when it found that between 44,000 and 98,000 die each year in U.S. hospitals due to preventable medical errors. Today, an estimated 100,000 people a year continue to die from medical errors.
Theories of what contributes to the increase in medical errors range from nurses, interns and residents working too much overtime and suffering from fatigue, to emotionally-exhausted doctors facing enormous pressure while dealing with uncertainty and the reluctance to admit mistakes. Many experts agree that a search for solutions should focus on the complex medical system itself, not just on the individuals functioning within the system. The original Institute of Medicine study made recommendations that if adopted today could provide positive change. They include taking a strong look at safety issues linked to confusion over drugs using similar names and packaging, increasing the use of computerized drug order entry systems and establishing two national reporting systems for medical errors one voluntary that would be confidential to help health care providers learn from mistakes, and another mandatory system that would make mistakes public.
Perhaps the single most important factor in preventing medical errors is communication uninformed patients are less likely to accept a doctor's prescribed treatment or to take their medication correctly. Other tips include making sure you understand and can read your prescription information, informing your doctor of any allergy or medicine reactions you may have, choosing a hospital and doctor, if possible, that commonly performs the procedure or surgery you need and not to be intimidated if a doctor seems inattentive and fails to refer you for a second opinion --don't be afraid to go ahead and schedule an appointment yourself.
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