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Medical Errors Kill Up to 98,000 Hospitalized Americans Per YearUSA Today, November
11, 199 issue reported that medical mistakes kill anywhere between 44,000 and
98,000 hospitalized Americans each year. The
report by the Institute of Medicine calls the errors stunning and demands major
changes in the health care system to protect patients.
They call for a 50% reduction in su8ch errors over a five year period as
a target. The report goes on
to say that the problem is not as much cases of recklessness by individual
doctors as much as basic flaws in the way hospitals and clinics operate.
One of the reported problems is in reading the handwriting of doctors on
their prescriptions. This is also
compounded by the fact that many drugs sound alike.
The report states
that health care is more than a decade behind improving safety compared with
other high-risk industries. The
financial impact of these mistakes is estimated to be approximately $8.8 billion
dollars per year according to the report. William Richardson,
president of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and chairman of the institute panel
that compiled the report sums his remarks up with, “These
stunning high rates of medical errors… are simply unacceptable in a medical
system that promises first to do no harm.” |