Bed Sores Are Amongst Most Common Hospital Errors
Recognizing that the development of a bed sore during an admission to a hospital as something that simply should not occur, many facilities have begun to categorize their development for what they truly are--- a serious medical error. Bed sores now join a list of dreadful occurrences such as: operations on the wrong body part, patient suicides, foreign objects left in during surgery and deadly falls in the hospital as situations that simply shouldn't occur in the presence of proper medical care. According to reports in the Journal Gazette regarding serious medical errors in Indiana Hospital and surgery centers, the...
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New Medicare Report On Medical Errors In Hospitals Reinforces Ongoing Problems
There's some saying that has been jumbled back-and-forth about how many patients were feeling fine until they went to the hospital and got sick. Well, as corny as the saying may be, a trip to the hospital may be one of that last places you want to go--- particularly when you look at data released from Medicare concerning hospital safety data. After evaluating bills bills that hospitals submitted to Medicare for payment between October, 2008 and June, 2008, CMS, looked through the billing codes used to quantify the type of treatment provided to each patient. The results demonstrate that many...
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Hospital Errors: Study Finds Preventable Errors Continue To Harm Patients At Alarming Rate
“Don’t go to the hospital if you don’t want to get sick” is frequently said in jest by many of my colleagues who represent people who have been harmed by mistakes made in hospitals. Now, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine regarding errors made at North Carolina hospitals reinforces this saying. The study evaluated hospital data from 2002 to 2007 and looked at patient charts that contained codes for medical conditions that where generally associated with errors made by hospital staff. Amongst the common errors made by hospitals include: Severe bleeding during an operation Breathing...
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Avoid Hospitals In July
We've all heard about how it may be in your best interest to avoid a hospitalization on a holiday or during a weekend, when senior staff tend to be off. However, a new study suggests that you may want to avoid a trip to the hospital completely during the month of July. As recently reported by Julie Deardorff of the Chicago Tribune, a study from the Journal of Internal Medicine determined that the patient death rate from medication errors was 10% higher in July than in other months. Perhaps the most reasonable explanation for the spike in medication errors at...
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States Move To More Transparency Regarding Medical Malpractice & Hospital Errors
When a family member is hurt, injured, or sick, you want to know that their hospital has a good reputation with few serious medical errors. You expect doctors and nurses to treat your loved ones with the respect, care, and caution that is owed to them to ensure that they get better, not worse. The frequency and prevalence of medical malpractice and medical errors, especially those medical errors leading to serious injury or even death, are significant factors when choosing a hospital. Illinois has made it easier for patients to know how frequently medical errors occur at hospitals with the Illinois...
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Now that we score nursing homes, is it time to do the same with hospitals?
I recently received an email from the National Decubitus Foundation mentioning how only a handful of states currently require hospitals to report the incidence of 'never events' to authorities that occur at their facilities. Consequently, the patient / consumer is left in the dark when it comes to 'good' vs. 'bad' hospitals. 'Never events' are preventable medical errors that the government (Medicare) has deemed so unnecessary that hospitals can not bill Medicare for medical treatment related to a patients subsequent care. Here is an excerpt of the email: Hospitals Resist Reporting Several States Trying to Enforce Disclosure Laws Only a...
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Medicare No Longer To Pay For 'Reasonably Prevenatable' Medical Errors
As of October 1, 2008 Medicare is no longer reimbursing hospitals for reasonably preventable medical errors. The medical facilities will similarly no longer be able to charge patients directly for medical care resulting in errors. Called 'never events'--because the medical errors were never intended to occur, the below is a list of the never events and well as their reported frequency in 2007. The below chart was published in The New York Times article on 'never events.' We at The Chicago Nursing Home Law Blog applaud this important development towards improving patient safety. We will soon be highlighting each of...
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