Study Regarding Hospital Safety

The New York Times reports that a new study being published in the New England Journal of Medicine finds no progress in reducing patient harm at hospitals as a result of medical care.

The study, conducted from 2002 to 2007 in 10 North Carolina hospitals, found that harm to patients was common and that the number of incidents did not decrease over time. The most common problems were complications from procedures or drugs and hospital-acquired infections.

The effort to reduce hospital and medical errors came after a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine that found that medical mistakes caused as many as 98,000 deaths and more than one million injuries a year in the United States. More than 60% of the injuries and deaths were found to be avoidable.

According to the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, hospital acquired infections “kill more Americans each year than AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined.”

The following PBS Second Opinion reports that hospital acquired infections are a growing problem in the U.S. and that there are steps that healthcare systems can take to protect patients from obtaining hospital acquired infections.

If you or a loved one is injured as a result of a medical error or hospital mistake such as acquiring an infection during a hospitalization, it is important to speak to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer to protect you interests.