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It seems that every time researchers estimate how often a medical mistake contributes to a hospital patient's death, the numbers come out worse.
[...] In 2010, the Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services said that bad hospital care contributed to the deaths of 180,000 patients in Medicare alone in a given year.
Now comes a study in the current issue of the Journal of Patient Safety that says the numbers may be much higher — between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death, the study says.
That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second.
The new estimates were developed by John T. James, a toxicologist at NASA's space center in Houston who runs an advocacy organization called Patient Safety America. James has also written a book about the death of his 19-year-old son after what James maintains was negligent hospital care.
Asked about the higher estimates, a spokesman for the American Hospital Association said the group has more confidence in the IOM's estimate of 98,000 deaths. ProPublica asked three prominent patient safety researchers to review James' study, however, and all said his methods and findings were credible.
[...] Dr. David Mayer, the vice president of quality and safety at Maryland-based MedStar Health, said people can make arguments about how many patient deaths are hastened by poor hospital care, but that's not really the point. All the estimates, even on the low end, expose a crisis, he said.
"Way too many people are being harmed by unintentional medical error," Mayer said, "and it needs to be corrected."
The story describes additional studies that were performed and then solicited feedback from other doctors who supported the view that the 98,000 figure underreports the problem and that the situation warrants further investigation, reporting, and action.
Have any Soylentils personally experienced or observed medical mistakes that had an adverse outcome? Alternatively, has anyone experienced a medical triumph in the face of very poor odds for a positive outcome? What about medical treatments in countries besides the US?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 25 2016, @08:25PM
True story. 35 year old woman walks into my practice complaining of quite acute abdominal pain. She had been to see 4 other physicians in the previous week, all of whom told her that she had gastritis, heartburn or colitis, and all of whom prescribed her basically the same medication - antacids and/or proton pump inhibitors like Nexium or similar. Since this story piques my curiosity - first that gastritis would last 4-5 days without letting up at all and despite being over-medicated in this way the pain would be enough to send her to see me - a "5th" doctor. Second, she looked like she was in quite a bit of pain. And third, after a brief physical, she seemed febrile (warm to the touch). And of course epigastric (middle of the upper abdomen) tenderness.
Frankly I was thinking perhaps pancreatitis, cholangitis, or something similar, so I ordered a few simple tests. CBC, amylase, liver function tests, etc. Why? Because no one else had bothered to order any tests and this didn't fit the pattern for gastritis or colitis. Abdominal pain yes. Vomiting maybe. Diarrhea sometimes. Fever? 5 days of just pain and no evolution? No.
CBC comes back with 25,000 leucocytes along with the presence of leukoblasts. Simple, basic test that no one bothered to run, costs all of $10 (probably more in your country) - and the answer was right there. But you won't find it if you don't bother to look for it. Anyway she died later that week. According to her husband, who brought his 6 year old daughter in to me a few months later - the mother was very grateful that I had finally discovered the source of her pain. It was unlikely she'd respond to chemotherapy at that age, usually over 15's don't survive acute lymphocytic leukemia, but at least she got a chance and finally got the care she needed.
Medicine is easy if you listen to the patient and are smart enough to figure out when things don't make sense or don't fit the pattern and that's the catch. Like has been mentioned elsewhere, anyone can memorize and quote WebMD and wikipedia. But it takes experience to figure out when things don't quite add up, and you need to care enough about your patient to take that extra step - not to cover your own ass but to be absolutely sure that you're correct. I'm not perfect by any means and I've made my share of mistakes. Most have been minor, thank goodness, and I haven't killed or maimed anyone. It can happen, but it shouldn't happen. Unfortunately I think "Western" medical schools recruit the wrong kind of person, focusing too much on pure academic performance and much less on actual empathy and compassion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 25 2016, @10:51PM
When I was in college in the 80's, most seemed to go into it for the money. It was either pre-law or pre-med, because the thinking was that was where you were going to make gobs of money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 26 2016, @12:32AM
pre med != medicine. Many sperm are sent. Only one is chosen.