Newsday reported about a new report confimring that 1 out of 7 Medicare patients suffer injury in hospitals. That is an astounding number.
Medicare's new chief has called for improving patient safety following that report. In fact, the article reported that 15,000 people per month suffered a complication that contributed to their death, according to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.
This stunning statistic is not new. In fact, only ten years ago, the Intitute of Medicine warned that up to 98,000 people a year die from medical malpractice. The report confirmed that hospitals are dangerous, especiallly since infections run rampant and there are always opportunities for errors, omissions from communication mistakes and inexperienced health care doctors, nurses and technicians.
The inspector general's report described that 134,000 Medicare patients suffered at least one adverse event while in a hospital. Here's a key statistic from that report: 44% of those errors and mistakes were preventable. Unbelievable.
Gerry practices law exclusively in the State of New York. Within New York he practices primarily in the following counties: New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk. Technically, Brooklyn is known as "Kings County," and Manhattan and New York City are known as "New York County." Staten Island is known as "Richmond County." These counties make up the New York metropolitan area.
2 Comments to "1 out of 7 Medicare Patients Harmed in Hospital"
You would need to look at the study that Newsday referred to in order to answer your question. Click on the title in the post and that will take you to the Newsday article.
Posted by Gerry Oginski
on February 5, 2012 at 12:45 AM
One out of seven or 13.5% is a rather alarming figure. Has this been proven? And has there been any action to address the issue?
