Going to the Hospital? it Just Might Kill You!

Are you really safe when your a patient in the hospital? The facts say no. Experts estimate that 98,000 people die due to medical error each year. More then 2500 Americans die each month from preventable medical mistakes.

A national investigation done By Hearst Newspapers revealed that many hospitals often ignore the federal and state safety regulations that are in place yet receive little or no penalty.

There is so much secrecy when it comes to medical errors. Many medical mistakes are never reported as such. This is mainly due to fear of litigation of wrongful death lawsuits. In a 2008 annual report to Congress, The Agency for Health-care Research and Quality said that preventable medical injuries and mistakes are increasing by at least 1% each year.

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the department of Health and Human Services, has stated that the death toll for medical errors and injuries is 100,00 each year.

Death's from medical mistakes happen within the confines of the hospital and the cause of death is often kept secret. Doctors may leave out information on death certificates that would point to medical error as a contributing factor to the death. There have been many cases of nurses giving medication to the wrong patient and the hospitals do not report the incident unless the patient actually dies from it right then and there. Then there is the issue of nurses diverting narcotics from their patients and taking the drugs them self while on duty. This is a growing problem and is also known to impair clinical judgment and put patients at risk. Very few of these nurses are ever arrested. How ever,they may receive internal disciplinaryaction or be reported to the State Nursing Board where disciplinary action may include suspension or loss of their nursing license. In this writers opinion, jail time should be included and permanent loss of their nursing license should be mandatory. They have in fact committed Patient abuse and neglect by n them need pain medication and have out their patients at high risk since a fatal mistake could very well be the outcome of working while under the influence of class A or class B narcotics.

Hospital acquired infections are of great danger to the patient. In America an estimated 1.7 million infections are hospital acquired. These preventable infections are the 6thleading cause of death nationally. This is just unacceptable. Most of these infections could have been prevented if doctors and other health-care workers were consistent in washing their hand. According to the Centers for Disease Control, recent studies place hand hygiene adherence in hospitals at between 29 percent and 48 percent.

We as patients must be pro-active when we require hospitalization. Do not be afraid to ask any doctor, nurse or any other health care worker to wash their hands before they begin their task.

Ineffective sterilization of medical equipment can be another avenue of infection transmission to the patient. There has to be some kind of oversight that will increase patient safety practices not only in sterilization of equipment but in all area's that can effect the out-come of the patients hospitalization.

Currently, according to Nancy-Ann DeParle, the presidents health adviser and director of the White House Office of Health Reform, the Obama administration doesn't support mandatory reporting of all hospital mistakes.

At this time there exists no real accountability for hospitals that do not meet patient safety standards.

Sources:

CDC us.govinfo

Hearst Newspaper archives

Department of Health and Human Services

Personal experience as a Health-care professional for 18 years.