The number of medical errors leading to “patient safety incidents” rose in U.S. hospitals to 1.24 million between 2002-2004, compared to 1.14 million over the previous three-year period, according to a new study released Monday by the healthcare ratings company HealthGrades.
These incidents also resulted in $9.3 billion in excess costs, the report found.
Those 1.24 million safety incidents occurred among 40 million hospitalizations covered under Medicare. Patients at the top-performing hospitals had 43 percent lower incidence of medical errors compared to patients at the worst hospitals.
Among states, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, and Kansas ranked as the top ones for hospital patient safety. New Jersey was the worst for patient safety, along with New York, Nevada, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia.
Overall, the number of patient safety incidents in American hospitals continues to increase, at an enormous cost, and there is still see a large gap between the incidence rates at the nation’s top-performing and worst-performing hospitals, based on this report.
Among the other findings in this third HealthGrades report on Patient Safety in American Hospitals:
If all hospitals performed at the level of the top 15 percent of hospitals, there would have been 280,134 fewer Medicare patient safety incidents and 44,153 fewer deaths, saving $2.45 billion in the years 2002 to 2004;
Of the 304,702 deaths that occurred among patients who developed at least one patient safety incident, 250,246 were potentially preventable;
Medicare patients who had at least one safety incident had a 1-in-4 chance of dying during their hospitalization. That rate is unchanged since the first study;
Medicare patients in Minnesota had a nearly 30 percent lower risk of developing one or more safety incidents, compared to patients in New Jersey.
The most common safety incidents were decubitus ulcers (bedsores), post-operative sepsis (a bacterial bloodstream infection), and failure to rescue.
“Failure to rescue” is the inability to save a hospitalized patient’s life when that patient has acquired in the hospital a complication, such as when a patient admitted for a total knee replacement develops pneumonia and dies.
Obviously, these statistics are alarming and provide a frightening reminder that hospitals make lots of mistakes. You must always be vigilant for yourself and your family. You can not assume “everything will turn out fine.” You must be a better consumer of health care and ASK QUESTIONS. TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED WHEN IT COMES TO THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF YOUR FAMILY.
We have seen too many trusting clients suffer totally preventable harm as a result of inattention and carelessness. Medical negligence has included leaving seniors unattended, giving patients medications that they are deathly allergic to, and failing to follow up on abnormal test results. We can not stress enough the need to be on “Health Care Watch” when you or your family goes to the hospital.
If you or a loved one has been injured, contact us online or call us at 407-244-1212 or Toll Free at 800-381-8299 to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your legal options.
