What Everyone Should Know About Medical Mistakes

Thomas Sheridan, founder of Sheridan & Murray, and respected Philadelphia personal injury lawyer discusses the facts about medical mistakes.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a seminal study titled “To Err Is Human”. This study concluded that as many as 98,000 people die in American hospitals each year as a result of medical mistakes that are preventable. Ninety-eight thousand deaths per year is a staggering statistic. More people are killed each year by medical mistakes than car accidents. Medical mistakes account for more deaths every year than breast cancer, and medical mistakes account for more deaths each year than AIDS. Simply stated, health care in the United States is not as safe as it should and must be.

Nevertheless, hospitals, doctors, and medical insurance companies continue to bombard the public with claims that tort reform is necessary to “fix the healthcare system in American.” The medical and insurance lobbies contend that frivolous lawsuits have driven up the cost of medicine in the United States and are a significant cause of increasing healthcare costs. This is simply not true. The real problem with the healthcare system in America is that patient safety is not paramount.

Hospitals and doctors have failed totake any significant action to improve patient safety in America. Among the common medical mistakes that are preventable are improper blood transfusions, surgical injuries, operating on the wrong part of the body, adverse drug events, falls, mistaken patient identities, and burns. Significant error rates are commonly found in intensive care units, operating rooms, and emergency departments.

In 2010, the Office of Inspector General of the US Department of Health and Human Services reported that 1 in 7 hospital patients experienced a medical error. Of these medical mistakes, 44% were preventable. These medical mistakes cost Medicare $4.4 billion each year. These Medicare cost estimates do not include the additional costs associated with follow up care following medical mistakes. This important study concluded that since most medical mistakes are preventable, the need and opportunity for hospitals to significantly reduce the incidence of mistakes is significant.

In November 2010, a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine which found that injuries resulting from medical mistakes (resulting from a statewide study of 10 North Carolina hospitals) were common and there was little evidence to show that the risks of preventable medical mistakes had decreased in any significant fashion over the prior 6 years. These findings are particularly troubling since North Carolina is regarded as a leader in the health care industry in its efforts to improve patient safety. If the safest states are NOT safe, what are the error rates in your state? The simple conclusion is that healthcare providers have NOT taken action to improve public safety.

Preventable medical mistakes cost nearly 100,000 lives per year; it causes significant increase in additional medical care necessitated by the errors (along with lost income and household productivity) which have been estimated to cost between $17 and $29 billion per year. These medical mistakes are also costly in the terms of the loss of trust in the health care systems. However, in the face of these staggering statistics, there has been no cry from the health care industry to increase patient safety. Instead, doctors, hospitals, and the insurance lobbies consistently call for “tort reform” which will in no way improve patient safety. Doctors and hospitals really seek limited immunity to continue to make mistakes with confidence in the knowledge that their liability and exposure for their mistakes are capped at an arbitrary limit set by the legislature. If 98,000 Americans died each year as a result of airline crashes, would the government consider limiting victims' lawsuits against airlines? The simple answer is no. There would be a cry across America for dramatic improvement in airline safety.

Despite the fact that medical mistakes and patient injuries cause more deaths per year than automobile accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS, medical malpractice insurance companies have profited incredibly in recent years. The 2009 report “True Risks” indicated that medical malpractice insurers posted record profits in 2007, had a “very good” 2008, and projected continued operating profits through 2009. Despite these record profits, insurance companies are calling for our government to limit the rights of injured Americans to bring a lawsuit for medical mistakes.

While medical malpractice insurers have realized record profits, inflation adjusted medical malpractice premiums for doctors and hospitals are nearly the lowest they have been in over 30 years. Medical malpractice insurance rates reached a peak in 2003 during a “hard market”. However, medical malpractice premiums have dropped over recent years with decreases of 6.6% nationally in 2007 and an additional drop of 5.3% in 2008. Should injured patients’ constitutional rights to civil justice be taken away when patients are at great risk of injury from a medical mistake? Is this fair when insurance companies are realizing record profits and when medical malpractice insurance premiums are going down on the national level?

The only true way to reduce litigation associated with medical mistakes is to improve patient safety. If doctors and hospitals reduce the number of injuries caused by medical mistakes, then claims, lawsuits, and the associated costs will be reduced. Taking away the rights of the most seriously injured citizens of our country is not the answer. “Tort reform” will reduce the financial incentive of hospitals, insurance companies, doctors, and HMOs to operate safely. It is critical to each American citizen that we protect patients’ rights and eliminate preventable medical mistakes.

So, the truth about medical errors is that they are far too common, they are mostly ignored by the medical community and they kill nearly 100,000 Americans per year. It is time to increase patient safety and hold healthcare providers and insurance companies accountable.

To contact the Philadelphia personal injury lawyers and medical malpractice experts at Sheridan & Murray, contact them at (877) 699-7800 or visit their website at www.sheridanandmurray.com