News tagged with 'Medical Errors'

A published study points to July as the worst month for surgeries and fatal medication errors. The problems were found at teaching hospitals, not nonteaching hospitals suggesting that new doctors may be to blame.

Actor Dennis Quaid has brought his family's hospital error tragedy to the public forefront by promoting patient safety and eliminating medical errors, which kill at least 100,000 Americans every year.

California has collected over $2 million in fines from hospitals that have made medical errors which kill up to 200,000 patients every year nationally. The latest fines have been issued to 13 hospitals.

Patient safety was highly controversial on the House floor Saturday night when members shouted "trial lawyer" to one representative. But patient safety is generally agreed to be one key to bringing down health care costs and to save at least 98,000 deaths a year, as emphasized in this AAJ campaign.

The insurance industry is on the hot seat as health care reform clearly points to insurance industry reform. When the Senate version is introduced it will include repealing an act that since 1945 has given insurers the freedom to charge what they want for consumers' health insurance and doctors' medical malpractice insurance.

Medical errors are costing Americans at least $17 billion a year, but is not the focus of health care reform. In fact, the Republican version makes it much tougher for those already injured to seek help.

In the discussion of health care reform in the House today what's missing is a reminder that the current system is unsustainable. As Americans lose their insurance through job loss and because of the cost of private insurance, they raise their risk of death by 40 percent.

"Heed the Gavel", yells Rep. John Dingell as Republicans interrupt Democrats who are voicing their approval of the health care reform bill, HR 3962.

A report by the Hearst Newspapers finds that about 200,000 people die from errors by doctors and infections in hospitals, which are largely preventable. Here are some of their stories.

For the third straight year, 2008 saw the lowest number of medical malpractice payments. The decline, however, is likely because less injured patients have received compensation, not improved health safety.

A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine finds patients who visit their primary physician for routine blood tests or screenings are often not informed of the results. Most people tend to assume, no news is good news but that is not always the case.

A simple surgical safety checklist reduced patient-mortality and complications by more than a third. If all hospitals were to use the same checklist, they could save tens of thousands of lives and $20 billion in medical costs annually

The lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by actor, Dennis Quaid and his wife has settled for $750,000.  Their newborn twins received an overdose of the drug heparin and they bled out nearly dying. The twins have since recovered, but the Quaids have formed a foundation to inform the public about the "conspiracy of silence" of medical errors that kill 100,000 a year. 

Reducing medical residents work shifts to 16-hours would go a long way toward patient safety, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.  The changes would cost hospitals about $1.7 billion, and not go far enough, critics charge.  

Medicaid will no longer reimburse hospitals for the extra cost of treating patients who are injured due to their own mistakes. For decades hospitals have been reimbursed for their own mistakes and the cost to correct them. But now, the federal government is tired of doctors and hospitals profiting from their mistakes.