It’s Worse Than You Thought.

Every so often the someone in the medical community tears away the veil of secrecy which shrouds health care mistakes and the public gets a look at just how bad it is.  Last Saturday was one of those days.  Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, wrote an informative and provocative essay in the Wall Street Journal.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444620104578008263334441352.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Darticle    The title of the essay was “How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us.”

As Dr. Makary points out, when there is a plane crash in the United States, investigations are done and hearings are held.  We try to get to the bottom of what happened so we can prevent a recurrence.  Unfortunately, the same thing does not happen with hospital accidents.  Dr. Makary quotes studies showing that medical errors kill enough people each week to fill four jumbo jets.  That is the equivalent of over 200 loaded jumbo jets going down each year.  You would think that the public would be screaming for answers and for reform.  The reason it isn’t is that the medical profession hides its mistakes behind a wall of secrecy.

Bad doctors hurt patients over and over again but nothing is done because that might upset the apple cart.  Good doctors close their eyes and do not report their incompetent colleagues.  To do so risks retaliation and a trip to the hospital disciplinary committee, which may be loaded with the friends of Dr. Incompetent.  Hospitals, which keep records about who kills or maims patients in their buildings, are afraid to discipline doctors in all but the worst cases because it is doctors who decide where their patients go when they need hospitalization.  If a hospital gets the reputation among doctors for being tough and unfriendly to them, the hospital’s beds will lie empty. 

When a patient is killed or maimed and the patient or his family has the temerity to ask for compensation, the medical profession cries foul and labels the suit “Frivolous” and “Without Merit.”  The poor victim is branded a freeloading opportunist who is trying to besmirch a good doctor or hospital.  When the suit is successful, the good doctor or hospital invariably insist that the victim keep secret the fact that payment was made.  After all, no sense alarming the public or letting them in on the fact that medical negligence with terrible consequences is an everyday event. 

The public has a right to know just how bad it is so that it can be made better.  Always check your doctor’s record with the Medical Board.  There is a chance that, in spite of the odds, he or she has been disciplined.  Ask about statistics for mortality and morbidity at the hospital to which your doctor wants to send you.  How often do they do the surgery you are being sent for?  How do their patients do during and after surgery?  According to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most respected medical journals in America, 25% of all hospitalized patients are harmed by medical errors.  The odds are scary but the more you know, the better chance you have of coming out unharmed.

Posted in Doctors, Hospital Negligence, Hospitals, Medical Malpractice, Medical Negligence, Secrecy, Surgical Errors, tort reform |