10 *shocking* medical mistakes

[BonBon]

In typical CNN fashion:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/09/health...html?hpt=hp_c1

The article details mistakes that can happen in a health care setting.

Also, apparently it's also the "probably" third leading cause of death, per this doctor: Medical errors kill more than a quarter million people every year in the United States and injure millions. Add them all up and "you have probably the third leading cause of death" in the country, says Dr. Peter Pronovost, an anesthesiologist and critical care physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

What I'd like to know is out of whose ass they pull these stats from. 250,000 people a year is nearly 1% of the US population. I'm finding this figure hard to swallow. I know in my personal medical experiences, there are a lot of fail-safe measures in place to the point of being really irritating, not that I don't appreciate it.

Thoughts? Besides that I shouldn't bother reading CNN?

[diggitydot]

On what planet are infections a medical "mistake"? They're typically a known complication for most procedures.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Good grief. The article is redic.

[HouseofWool]

The only ones that scream mistake is the wrong site surgery and not removing all of the equipment (ie the sponge). If you don't check out the license of the medical provider, don't be surprised if he/she turns out to be a hack.

[Deebs]

There is a huge problem with medical mistakes. Unfortunately, this article doesn't really articulate any of them appropriately. And if everyone who reads this article starts having their primary call the ED when someone is on their way in from home? The emergency docs are going to stop picking up the phone. No matter how you come in (even by ambulance), you are triaged based on your relative urgency based on the others waiting with you. Way to send the wrong message!

[scrub-jay]

I agree with Deb. This is a hot topic item, but not in the way the article presents it. I think there is a more informative presentation of the issues in a Frontline piece called "Chasing Zero" where the emphasis is on hospital policy standardization including: using checklists during operations to make sure nothing is left in or introducing new technology for medicine administration. This article misses the point.

[ms.conception]

On what planet are infections a medical "mistake"? They're typically a known complication for most procedures.

That's a tough one. My bff's son became septic after a routine surgery due to hospital acquired infection. Because infection protocol wasn't followed appropriately - that, in my opinion is a mistake.

What I deem a mistake is something that is preventable with due diligence

[diggitydot]

I agree that not following protocol *is* a mistake, but infections are generally a known and expected complication of any surgery.

[scrub-jay]

Hospital-acquired infections are usually considered "mistakes" depending on circumstances. Some infections are considered inevitable risk, like burn victims for example. It is very important to remember (outside of the article) that minimizing the risk of infection falls to everyone-- including: physicians, nursing staff, administrators, visitors, cleaning staff. This article is grossly generalizing "infections" as mistakes, it would be more prudent to say "abnormally high infection rates for a hospital are potentially indicative of poor protocol" where baseline rates are established by leading hospitals with good safety protocols and similar patient bases. Just saying: "infections are a mistake" is overly broad and frankly uninformative.