Scary new numbers have been issued on how many patients die from medical malpractice and medical errors in hospitals. Despite incremental improvements in addressing medical errors, a recent comprehensive analysis published in the Journal of Patient Safety estimated that 440,000 people die every year as victims of medical errors they experienced as hospital patients. That’s….
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Blood Transfusions Can Save Your Life … and Raise Your Risk of Infection
Blood transfusions are a common hospital procedure. But according to a study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the more red blood cells hospital patients receive, the higher their risk of infection. Researchers from the University of Michigan Health System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System concluded that….
Continue ReadingDisabled People Get Inferior Care
The report covered only one state, but its conclusion is disturbing: People with disabilities “fare worse” than other people in terms of physical and mental health and in their access to high-quality medical care from providers who are sensitive to their needs. The report, “Health Needs Assessment of People With Disabilities in Massachusetts, 2013,” pretty….
Continue ReadingSuggested Reading — Doctor Experiences Critical Care From the Patient’s Perspective
Arnold Relman, a 90-year-old physician with more than 60 years’ experience treating patients in critical condition, gained a new perspective about medical care when he became a patient after tumbling down the stairs at his home. His chronicle in the New York Review of Books of what it was like to receive treatment is a….
Continue ReadingHospital Chain Accused of Manipulating Data to Boost Rating
Hospital chain Prime Healthcare Services was highly rated by a reputable analytics service for the quality of its care. But, as described in a report by the Center for Investigative Reporting, (CIR) its profile might be less an accurate appraisal than a fictional goal. The California-based chain, says the CIR, “might be receiving five-star health….
Continue ReadingBrain Problems Can Endure Long After Leaving the ICU
Earlier this year, our blog “Intensive Care Drives Somes Patients Crazy, Literally” discussed how experiencing a state of delirium during a stay in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) can lead to long-term cognitive problems. From an anecdotal standpoint, the medical professionals who staff ICUs have been aware of this reality for a long time…..
Continue ReadingNew Surgical Rating Tool Gives Mediocre Grades to Major Institutions
Our “Better Health Care” newsletter focuses this month on how hospitals are rated for patient safety. Among the several ways it mentions for consumers to measure hospital performance is a new guide from Consumers Union, the outfit that publishes Consumer Reports. As reported last week by Reuters.com, many of the 2,463 hospitals included in the….
Continue ReadingThe High Cost of Care Is Criminal
Dr. Gilbert Welch is a professor of medicine at Dartmouth who wrote “Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health,” a book we like a lot. As we noted in our blog “Overtested, Overtreated, Overcharged,” before he went to medical school, Welch majored in economics. He’s the perfect person to analyze the byzantine nature….
Continue ReadingControlling Staph Infections in the ICU
MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a nasty bacterium responsible for virulent, often life-threatening infections. It is one of the microbes hospitals work hard to eradicate, historically with mixed results. (See our blog, “Hospitals Try to Combat MRSA.”) But a recent study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showed that….
Continue ReadingCancer Patient Diagnoses the Hospital’s Chemotherapy Error
The value of a patient advocate has never been proved more profoundly than in “Right Regimen, Wrong Cancer: Patient Catches Medical Error.” In this case, the advocate was the patient. The article in the May issue of Web M&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web), published by the Department of Health and Human Services,….
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