Medical Mistakes Surprisingly Common

11/08/10 09:30 Filed in: Medical Malpractice | Tort Reform
CNN recently ran a story on just how common medical mistakes, i.e. medical malpractice, actually occurs. Referencing a study by the Archives of Surgery, the article notes that in Colorado alone doctors operated on the wrong patient at least 25 times and on the wrong part of the body in another 107 cases. The study period occurred over a 6.5 year period. If our hospital and healthcare system get the wrong patient for surgery altogether, you can easily see how they might make other mistakes with catastrophic results and injury.

According to one physician interviewed by CNN:

Each hospital, whether they publicly admit it or not, and whether or not it's discoverable in a lawsuit, has an episode of wrong-site or wrong-patient surgery either every year or once every few years," says Makary, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. "Almost every surgeon has seen one."


You can read the full article on CNN here. Our healthcare system, by and large, runs well for many people. However, for those who fall victim to a preventable medical error, the results can be disastrous for them or their families. Too often, tort reform focuses on limiting the ability to compensate those who get injured by medical malpractice without recognizing that this is why doctors and hospitals have insurance, to compensate the injured and their family. If tort reformers were serious about reducing costs, they would advocate healthcare reform to help prevent such mistakes in the first place, not try to through salt in the wounds of the victims by denying reasonable compensation.

Trial By Jury

10/04/10 15:50 Filed in: Tort Reform
When the right of an individual to go to trial by a jury of his peers falls prey to ‘tort reform,’ all individuals sacrifice some small part of their liberty. The insurance lobby, the corporate lobby and even the State itself care only to prevent themselves from being held accountable by a jury.

“It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases... This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1788. (*) FE 5:3

Tags:

Medical Negligence Costs $19.5 Billion Per Year

09/13/10 09:02 Filed in: Medical Malpractice | Tort Reform
It’s true: we live in a time of a medical malpractice crisis. Unfortunately, the spin on this by insurance companies is that “lawyers are to blame.”

But, according to the Society of Actuaries, the primary driving force in this cost is the fact that avoidable medical errors, a.k.a., medical mistakes or negligence, result in these costs. Further, most of the surveyed actuaries agreed that the solution is to prevent or reduce medical errors in the first place.

“Medical errors are a significant source of lost healthcare funds every year. For example, the study found that $1.1 billion was from lost productivity due to related short-term disability claims, and $1.4 billion was lost from increased death rates among individuals who experienced medical errors. According to a recent SOA survey, which identified ways to bend the national healthcare cost curve, 87 percent of actuaries believe that reducing medical errors is an effective way to control healthcare cost trends for the commercial population, and 88 percent believe this to be true for the Medicare population.”


Seems simple. If the negligence never occurs, there is no cost.

The Society of Actuaries also highlighted the five most common medical mistakes, or errors, that generated over 55% of the total costs. Pressure ulcers, postoperative infections, mechanical complications from devices, implants or grafts, postlaminectomy syndrome, and hemorrhages complicating a procedure round out the top five.

U.S. Government: Medical Errors Are Leading Cause of Death

09/11/10 13:21 Filed in: Medical Malpractice | Tort Reform
According to the U.S. Department of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, “Medical errors are one of the Nation's leading causes of death and injury. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors.” They offer 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors, many of which can be very useful in helping to head off a wayward medical provider about to commit malpractice. Medical errors are, by definition, an error and errors can and should be prevented. When a medical mistake, negligence or ‘error’ harms you, your family or friends, everyone pays the price. It costs a huge amount of money to correct errors through additional treatments. One case our firm worked on required over seven corrective surgeries following negligence by the doctor. Prevention is, of course, the best cure. Holding hospitals and healthcare providers accountable helps prevent ‘errors,’ and provides much needed relief to people harmed by such errors for lost wages, medical expenses, and home health accommodations in the most serious cases.

Hospital Negligence - Tips from FOX News

06/30/10 13:43 Filed in: Tort Reform | Medical Malpractice
Where will the ‘tort reformers’ (a.k.a. insurance companies looking to boost their bottom line) go if they lose the loyalty of their main media outlet? FOX News ran a story today entitled “Tips to Protect Yourself From Hospital Negligence.” The article addresses recent stories regarding infectious diseases being transferred to patients because the hospital and/or health care provider reused syringes, bottles of medication or dirty dental instruments. As a result, patients were infected with diseases such as hepatitis B and C as well as HIV. The article does offer a few good tips for ‘protecting’ yourself from infection at the hands of a negligent provider:

  • Demand that all health care personnel wash their hands in front of you before they render any physical service;
  • Demand that all health care personnel wear NEW gloves before drawing any blood;
  • Make sure your health care provider opens new needles from new packaging in your presence;
  • If any injectable medication is to be administered, it must come from a new bottle;
  • If you do not feel comfortable in your current setting, ask to speak to the infection control officer at your health facility. It is your right.

Still, one wonders, how can the patient be sure that medication comes from a ‘new bottle?’ The fact is that we must trust our health care professionals and, when the professional betrays that trust, hold them accountable. If the health care industry knows they’ll be held liable for negligence, then they’ll be certain to act in a way that doesn’t break such easy and common sense rules and needlessly exposes patients to danger. This is why ‘tort reform’ should never be embraced, it throws salt on the wound of the victim and eliminates the deterrent for the health care industry.