Posted by Bill Sandweg on 08 October 2013.
In 1984, the Institute of Medicine analyzed available data for patients admitted to New York hospitals and concluded that up to 98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year from preventable medical errors. The news was stunning at the time but has since come to be generally accepted. We are now thirty years later and a new study has been reported which places the premature deaths due to preventable hospital errors at over 400,000 per year. The study estimates serious harm due to preventable hospital errors is 10 to 20 times more common than death. Here is a link to the study. http://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/Fulltext/2013/09000/A_New,_Evidence_based_Estimate_of_Patient_Harms.2.aspx
The author offers a number of possible explanations for the huge increase in the estimated number of deaths. The first is that the 1984 study set a very high bar for identifying deaths caused by preventable errors. In other words, it underestimated the magnitude of the problem. The author also speculates that the incidence of deaths has increased due to the increasing complexity of medical practice and technology, the increased incidence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, overuse/misuse of medications, an aging population, and changes in the medical industry which reward greater productivity through increased patient flow and overuse of risky, invasive, revenue-generating procedures. He believes that one of the reasons we don’t do more about this is the refusal of the medical profession to embrace openness and admit responsibility in appropriate cases.
Whether the number of deaths due to preventable hospital mistakes is 98,000 per year or 400,000 per year, we have a big problem and it is only going to get worse. There can be no question that the quality of the health care in hospitals today is not what it was 30 years ago. Thirty years ago, every nurse who cared for you would have been a Registered Nurse. Today, hospitals are saving money by having LPN’s and other less well-trained nurses caring for patients under the supervision of an RN. This will not change.
When you or a loved one is in the hospital, someone needs to be there to watch and to ask questions. And as I have said over and over, don’t believe everything you are told just because it is a doctor or a nurse saying it. Juries often justify finding against patients injured by medical mistakes on the grounds that the patient should have realized the doctors or nurses were wrong and done something about it. Do yourself and your loved ones a favor. Be a cautious consumer, whether you are in the hospital or at the used car dealership. If in spite of all your precautions, you or a loved one are injured due to a medical error, please give me a call.
