Medical Mistakes

[Joanne98]

Benjamin Jones JR. was a 59 year old retired toolmaker who entered Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas in Fort Worth in July 1991. He had lung cancer surgery. The doctors removed the right lung. The lung was cancer free. A year passed and Jones decided to look over his medical records. He found out the cancer was in the left lung. Oops! He died of lung cancer in February 1994.

Celebrity cases bring more attention to medical mistakes. For example, March 17,2008 Dennis Quaid’s infant twins almost died because they were given an adult dose of blood thinner. The nurse misread the labels and gave the twins a massive overdose of the drug. The twins survived the overdose and Dennis Quaid speaks out against medical errors.

Institute of Medicine estimates that 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors. According to Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s website about healthcare “about 100,000 Americans die from medical errors in hospitals every year”. Medical errors are the 8th leading cause of death of Americans.



While most mistakes highlight for a good reason, the people who died by medical mistakes. The other casualty is the health professional themselves. The Day Joy Died is written by Dr. Gary Brandeland. He was the doctor who had in his care a pregnant woman name Joy. She was going to have a C-section done. The anesthetist made a mistake and it left both Joy and her baby brain dead. Even though it wasn’t Dr. Brandeland’s fault, he was deeply affected by Joy’s death. On that day, part of Dr. Brandeland died as well as Joy. He had to tell Joy’s family alone and the rest of the health care staff treated him as a leper. He suffered from depression and even affected his relationship at home, he divorced his wife. He is now a ER Physician in Minnesota. One of the reasons the article mentioned that common mistakes occurred from overworked and understaffed nurses. Health insurance agencies try to trim costs and cutback on quality.

Putting a price on human life has other consequences. For- profit hospitals have higher medical errors than non-profit and teaching hospitals. One-third of patients with health problems in the United States report experiencing medical, medication, or test errors, the highest rate of any nation in a new Commonwealth Fund international survey.

The number of mistakes could be higher because most mistakes are not reported. While medical malpractice doesn’t add much to cost of health care, less than ½ of 1 percent of health care spending, it is still a symptom of our broken health care system.

First, Medical mistakes would be investigated by creating an independent review board. Secondly, Universal Health Care would make the health care system publically accountable. Everyone would receive a report about medical care in the United States.

http://brendano.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/medical-mistakes/

[virgogal]

1. Scary,scary stuff but as long as humans are taking care of other

humans mistakes will be made.

That's just the way it is.

[valerief]

2. All the more reason to take the profit out of health care and replace it with quality. nt

[Big Blue Marble]

3. Imagine another industry that would survive if it killed nearly

100,000 people in one year from mistakes. I cannot think of one. This one goes on, while attempting to reduce patients
and their families' ability to recoup some of the loss through malpractice suits. Amazing.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. The military industrial complex industry does in a tad more than

100,000/year, still they keep on keepin' on.

[Big Blue Marble]

9. You are using an industry that exists to kill people.

And one that is not required to show a profit or compete in the market place. If medicine was any other
consumer industry that was killing as many people as medicine does, it would be out of business.

[trotsky]

6. And if that industry didn't exist at all, how many deaths would there be?

Medical mistakes are terrible and unfortunate. And many aspects of the industry sadly make them more frequent. But these kinds of blanket, knee-jerk condemnations do no good. We need to focus on fighting the problems.

[Big Blue Marble]

8. Unfortunately our current medical delivery system is the problem.

Why is it when doctors go on strike death-rates drop? Medicine does a great job saving lives by providing acute care
for accidents and emergencies. It is not so good with chronic health issues. Far more lives are saved by public health initiatives
and vaccines that most medical intervention for chronic diseases.

And remember when you add adverse drug reactions, misdiagnoses, and other medical errors the numbers of death
attributable to medicine become even graver.

Do some research before you call my comments knee-jerk condemnations. I have.
American hospitals are some of the most dangerous places in the country.

[trotsky]

10. So there's a perfect system somewhere?

when doctors go on strike death-rates drop

Got a cite for that stat?

Far more lives are saved by public health initiatives and vaccines that most medical intervention for chronic diseases.

No shit, sherlock. It is common sense that preventive medicine is going to be more effective. But a lot of this has to do with access to regular medical care (millions of people don't have it), AND the desire of the patient to proactively seek out their doctor and make healthy lifestyle choices on their own. Doctors aren't to blame for that.

And remember when you add adverse drug reactions, misdiagnoses, and other medical errors the numbers of death attributable to medicine become even graver.

How many times do patients fail to tell their doctor about other drugs (or supplements!) they are taking? Do you expect doctors, unlike everybody else on the planet, to not only have perfect skills at their job but be able to read minds as well?

American hospitals are some of the most dangerous places in the country.

That might have something to do with them holding the highest concentration of seriously sick and injured people in the world, ya think? Ah fuck it, you go right on ahead with your doc-bashing. Your "research" has nothing to do with facts or common sense.

[Big Blue Marble]

11. Here are a few stats for you:

There has been much research and observation of this occurance.

Here is a discussion on the iatrogenic benefits and risks:

http://www.annfammed.org/cgi/eletters/1/1/44

'But whenever physicians go on strike, within 5 days or so, deaths always drop from 17% to 50%, and stay down till the strike ends, when within 5 days or so, deaths increase from 20% to 100% -- back to where they were before the strike. There have been 2 such strikes in North America: in Saskatchewan and in Los Angeles county, but frequent doctor strikes occur in Israel, where morticians quickly mediate an end to the strike or go out of business. During World War II, virtually all European physicians were drafted, and civilians had almost no medical services, and civilian deaths at all ages from all causes were down about 20% throughout the duration. When the war ended and doctors returned home, European civilian deaths increased 25% -- back to where they were before the war.

Our latest mortality rate was 847 deaths per 100,000 in 2002. So for our 291,500,000 population, there would be about 2,470,000 deaths per year.

snip

Also in the 1970s, Harvard correlated each health profession with health status in their communities and found the greater the number in each
health profession the worse the health status in the community -- except for nursing. The more nurses the better the health status in the community."

The article goes on to weigh the lives saved by physician intervention to those that lost because of it.

[trotsky]

12. Gary Null? Seriously?

Well at least now I know the quality of your "research." :rofl:

[Big Blue Marble]

13. Your hostility is insufferable.

I am sure that you must be the smartest person in your world.
Gary Null did not make up these stats. This information about
doctors strikes has been around since the 70's when the docs stuck
in LA. I remember the early analysis at the time and how it surprised many of us.

It does not really matter whether you choose to believe it
or not. Even though as it saves lives, modern medicine also takes lives.
Many more than many like you would want to admit.

It does not matter whether you deny it or not.

Read Ivin Illich's "The Medical Nemesis" or his book "Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health if you are serious about an indepth
philosphical discuss of the pitfalls of our medical system.

I seriously doubt that you are even a little serious about the subject.
You are much more into deriding those who hold opinions other than yours.
God forbid you might learn something outside of your little smug world.

[trotsky]

14. It's not my fault you believe false information.

You don't have to personally attack me just because you don't have facts on your side. Gary Null is an AIDS denialist. He is demonstrably wrong. Do you deny the HIV/AIDS link too? If so, you have nothing at all worth listening to.

[Big Blue Marble]

18. Please state what the false information

I have stated. My only claim is that the when doctors strike, death rates drops. I really know nothing about this Gary Null.
I have never read any of his claims. And frankly they do not interest me. Edited to clarify the link I gave you was not Gary Null.
It was the Journal: The Annals of Family Medicine. If you check their home page it mentions that Stanford University Libraries Press
assists in the publication of this journal. You also ignored the quote from the article from Harvard research.

You, on the other hand, seem hyperbolic about him.

What interests me and has interested me for much of my life is how modern medicine is failing us. Far more than the Gary Nulls
of this world. Many are duped by the promises it offers and end up unwell, unhealed and broke.

I repeat modern medicine is great when it comes to emergencies and accidents. But otherwise it has had limited results
in bringing real health to our world. Stem cell research may change this. I certainly hope so. But I fear the costs will prohibited
for most of us.

In the meantime the medicalization of our society is growing as is medicine's share of our GNP. It is over 16% last time I checked.
This may not concern you. It does concern me for multiple reasons.

[trotsky]

19. Your stats, your arguments, your line of thinking...

all come from Gary Null. Pity you didn't know that. So, are you an AIDS denialist like he is? I noticed you didn't answer the question.

[Big Blue Marble]

20. You are nothing but a baiter.

Read my edit to the last post.

You have hysterically seized on this strange person whom I know nothing of.
I repeat the stats came from the Annals of Family Medicine.

But then maybe you cannot read very well. Too busy swilling your own bile.

[trotsky]

21. I just wanted you to answer one simple question.

Are you an HIV/AIDS denier just like the Gary Null? You parrot most of his other material, I just wanted to know if you agree with him on all of it.

That you have not only refused to answer but have even failed to merely ACKNOWLEDGE the question is giving me an answer anyway. And that's disgusting, no matter how much you personally attack me and call me names.

[Crunchy Frog]

22. A master at it. n/t

[trotsky]

23. Ooh, how clever!

I guess I must be really hated for you to side with an HIV/AIDS denier over me. Dang.

[trotsky]

15. The Null Hypothesis

http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/null_hypothesis_laidler.html

7. Apart from all the detailed flaws in Mr. Null's reasoning, his overall premise is also a complete fallacy. He is proposing
that "mainstream" medicine is hazardous because doctors make mistakes (TRUE), medicines have side effects (TRUE),
medical procedures have complications (TRUE) and science does not have a complete understanding of body and cell
functions (TRUE). What he has completely failed to do is compare modern medicine to anything else. He is essentially
comparing modern medicine as it is practiced to modern medicine as it could be practiced in a state of utter perfection -
no mistakes, no complications, no side effects and nothing unknown, unexpected or unanticipated. He is comparing
modern medicine to a fantasy-land version of medicine that has never existed and cannot ever exist.

What Mr. Null DOES NOT do is compare modern medicine with either no medical treatment (for which we have excellent
data) or the sort of treatment Mr. Null proposes. It is one thing to point out the flaws in a system - quite another to show
that you have a better system. Mr. Null repeatedly asserts that his system of medicine is better, but never gets around to
showing the data that supports his position. This is because he has no such data. His system is, in fact, as much a
fantasy as the one he uses as a yardstick for modern medicine.

[trotsky]

16. A Critical Look at Gary Null's Activities and Credentials

http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/null.html

Null is prone to see conspiracies behind many of the things he is concerned about. One of his targets has been the pharmaceutical industry, which, he says, "cannot afford to have an alternative therapy accepted." He promotes hundreds of ideas that are inaccurate, unscientific, and/or unproven. He calls fluoridation "deadly" and has spoken out against immunization, food irradiation, amalgam fillings, and many forms of proven medical treatment. His series on "The Politics of Cancer," which was published in Penthouse magazine in 1979 and 1980, promoted unproven methods that he said were being "suppressed" by the medical establishment. His lengthy series, "Medical Genocide," began appearing in Penthouse in 1985 with an article calling our medical care system a "prescription for disaster" and claiming that modern medicine has had virtually no effect on heart disease, cancer, and arthritis <1>. Other articles in the series promoted chiropractic and homeopathy, claimed that effective nutritional methods for treating AIDS were being suppressed, claimed that chelation therapy was safe and effective for treating heart disease, and endorsed several treatments for cancer that the American Cancer Society recommends against. His Web site contains a huge amount of misinformation and bad advice.

[trotsky]

17. "Almost all of what (Gary Null) says is useless, dangerous and just plain wrong."

http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2002/05/21/null/index.html

Null himself has been beating the anti-AIDS drum since at least 1994, when he wrote a column for Penthouse magazine titled "AIDS Is Not a Death Sentence," and introduced four "survivors" with stories of natural healing -- one through "hypothermia," another with "bitter melon," a third "holistically" or with dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), a briefly faddish "immunity booster," long ago proved, like the others, to be useless in defeating the virus. None of these therapies can be demonstrated to have worked for anyone.

Then as now, Null subscribed to a discredited "cofactor" theory of AIDS, which held that HIV couldn't and wouldn't spread far beyond the high-risk groups in which it was first observed -- intravenous drug users, homosexual men pursuing "a promiscuous, fast-track gay lifestyle," hemophiliacs and others unlucky enough to have needed "blood transfusions and blood-factor products," people whose immunity, Null baldly asserts, is likely to be compromised in the first place.

"Unfortunately," Null reported in Penthouse, "both blood transfusions and such products as Factor 8, taken by hemophiliacs, can cause immune suppression and make one more susceptible to any infection, including HIV." There was no knowing at the time he wrote the column how the burden of infection worldwide would shift increasingly to women, or how many healthcare workers, with one hapless prick of the needle, would experience the same course of illness as any promiscuous, fast-track lowlife. But now we do know, and Null still hasn't changed his tune.

[leftyladyfrommo]

25. Shoot, I heard that the figure is closer to 800,000

I think that includes medicine errors, too.

[cbayer]

5. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has a fantastic program that many

hospitals are participating in. It's called the 5 million lives campaign, and it has the goal of saving millions of lives by eliminating medical errors in hospitals. If the hospitals in your community are not participating, you should urge them to do so.


http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campaign/

[Ilsa]

7. In the Quaid twins' case, I don't think it was only about "Adult dosage" versus

pediatric dosage. I believe the heparin containers were 10 units versus 10,000. The two concentrations are used for very different purposes. The manufacturer's labelling on the vials was very undifferentiated between the doses. That doesn't let the nurse off by any means, but it makes it easier for mistakes to be made. I believe the legal outcome for the case required the manufacturer to come up with more distinctive labelling for the various doses.

[hedgehog]

24. Many medical errors could be prevented by introducing methods used in

industry.

For example, one hospital wanted to reduce infections due to starting IVs. Some people laid all their materials on a sterile cloth, others just laid them across the patients' bedsheets. The hospital started using IV kits with all the sterile cloths needed and also started using a check sheet to ensure all the proper steps were taken.

The use of check lists for other medical procedures such as surgery also helps. The team gets together just before the surgery starts and does a quick walk through to make sure all the equipment needed is at hand and that everyone is one the same page.


Patients and their advocates need to educate themselves as well.No one knows your history and your medications as well as you do.

Doctors and other medical personnel have to accept a certain amount to humility. For example, my doctor was going to give me melantonin for mild insomnia. Perfectly harmless, right? But I happened to know that melantonin shouldn't be taken with one of my other medications. He checked the book and found out I was right. I don't expect him to know every interaction for every medication out there, and he doesn't present himself as all-knowing. I pointed out a possible conflict, and he was willing to double check.