Medical Malpractice Statistics
As many of you have heard, medical errors kill between 44,000 and 100,000 Americans every year. The errors implicated run the gamut from medication errors to surgical misadventure. Sometimes there is a failure to accurately diagnose the actual condition which often leads to delayed or wrong treatment approach. Doctors and hospitals may succumb to the same temptation of nondisclosure present in any business context particularly when there appears a lack of informed inquiry being made by patients or their family members. In point of fact, there may well be no capacity for a non-medical person to reliably analyze the medical and treatment record involved in your particular circumstance. That is why a coordinated effort between lawyers and similar medical health care providers is necessary to determine the issue. There should be no fee or expense for these initial inquiries from the affected person or their inquiring family members. Oftentimes, a reasonable assessment can be made relatively quickly and the peace of mind of knowing either way is of considerable importance.
10 Patients Die From Preventable Medical Errors
A study released by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Helathcare Research and Quality was published in the July 2008 issue of Health Service Research. "Impact of Medical Errors on 90-Day Costs and Outcomes: An Examination of Surgical Patients," found that that 1 of every 10 patients who died within 90 days of surgery did so because of a preventable error and that one-third of the deaths occurred after the initial hospital discharge.
Potentially preventable medical errors that occur during or after surgery may cost employers nearly $1.5 billion a year, according to new estimates by the Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The authors also found these additional costs for surgery patients who experienced the following medical errors compared with those who did not:
- Nursing care associated with medical errors, including pressure ulcers and hip fractures—$12,196 (33 percent more).
- Metabolic problems associated with medical errors, including kidney failure or uncontrolled blood sugar—$11,797 (32 percent more).
- Blood clots or other vascular or pulmonary problems associated with medical errors—$7,838 (25 percent more).
- Wound opening associated with medical errors—$1,426 (6 percent more).
- The authors, Drs. Encinosa and Hellinger also conclude that studies that focus only on medical errors incurred during the initial hospital stay may underestimate the financial impact of patient safety events by up to 30 percent.
Source: http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2008/surgerrpr.htm
Half of Doctors Fail to Report Medical Errors
Survey results indicate that nearly half of U.S. doctors fail to report incompetent colleagues, while at the same time they believe such mistakes should be reported to authorities. Up to 96% of those surveyed said they should report all instances of significant incompetence or medical errors. "There is a measurable disconnect between what physicians say they think is the right thing to do and what they actually do," said Eric Campbell of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who led the survey. Campbell and colleagues surveyed more than 1,600 physicians in 2003 and 2004. Their report was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. A report by the U.S. Institute of Medicine in 2000 found that up to 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors in hospitals alone.
Medication Deaths Hit Records
In a Washington Times article in October 2008, it is reported that "The number of serious problems and deaths linked to medications reported to the government set a record in the first three months of this year...."
"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received nearly 21,000 reports of serious drug reactions, including over 4,800 deaths, said an analysis of federal data by the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), which scrutinized data going back to 2004, and yearly totals dating to the 1990s."
The article reported that fatalities accounted for 23 percent of the cases. The total number of deaths, 4,824, was an increase of nearly 3 percent from the last calendar quarter of 2007.
Source: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/23/medication-deaths-hit-record/
New Report Details Insurance Company Tactics Against Policyholders
A new report by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) describes "some of the most egregious ways the insurance industry attempts to make money at the expense of consumers." The report, released Nov. 12th, describes six tactics that insurers use against policyholders to delay or deny claims, names the insurance companies that are engaging in these practices, and offers ways consumers can fight back to prevent abuses.