A visit to a hospital doubles your risk of death compared to driving on a highway in the United States. This is just one of the shocking revelations reported by Hearst on hospital safety in America. Nearly 200,000 people die each year from medical errors and infections obtained while admitted in a hospital.
Our law firm has written extensively about the risk associated with medical negligence, malpractice, and preventable injuries in hospitals. The recent report only solidifies my belief that dramatic reform to health care safety is absolutely essential. Given the numerous medical advances in recent history, the days of leaving sponges in a patient’s body while in surgery should be a thing of the past but, unfortunately, remains prevalent.
An astounding 98,000 people die from preventable medical errors each year, according to chron.com. More Americans die each month of preventable medical injuries than died on Sept. 11, 2001 from the terrorist attacks. In addition, close to 100,000 people die from preventable hospital-acquired infections each year. Both of these numbers can, and should, decrease since both situations involve preventable culprits.
Here’s a video discussing preventable medical errors…
I’m shocked at the cavalier attitude so many states and hospitals have towards patient safety. 20 states currently do not have any medical error reporting system to speak of. In addition, 45 states, including D.C., don’t provide hospital-specific data, either because they don’t provide access or because they don’t even bother to collect the information.
Health care reform is on the forefront of national news and the political world. Given the shocking facts uncovered in Hearst’s report, a major initiative toward overhauling hospital and patient safety is warranted.
PA