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Surgeons make thousands of serious errors each year
Dr. Niraj Desai (L) sews in a kidney to a recipient patient during a kidney transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital June 26, 2012 in Baltimore, Md.
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A study out from Johns Hopkins Medicine this week includes some dramatic statistics about how frequently operations are marred by error. These aren't details that only a doctor could understand.
How bad is it? And how widespread? How about...
- Having a sponge or towel left in after surgery? (40 patients per week)
- Having a surgery performed on the wrong side of the body? (20 patients per week)
- Having the wrong operation altogether? (20 patients per week)
"The public scratches their head and say, come on, you've got to be kidding me about this," says Dr. Peter Pronovost, V.P. of Patient Safety at Johns Hopkins Medicine and co-author of the study. Even so, those numbers may underreport the risk of these "never events." The study used data from malpractice claims, but many instances of surgical error never get that far.
Patient safety advocates like Pronovost worry that there aren't adequate systems to watch for these kinds of errors. In the case of sponges, many operations require a great number of surgical instruments, increasing the risk that one may stay in the body.
"The way we keep track of whether we left [a sponge] in you, is simply counting what went in, and counting when they came out."
Pronovost says errors like these have always been a problem, and hospitals are working hard to fix them. He's concerned that cuts in payments to hospitals in the Affordable Care Act will put even more stress on medical professionals already working long hours.
"What health care hasn't done is use technology to improve productivity. It's largely relied on the heroism of doctors and nurses to keep safe, and now we're asking for even greater heroism," Pronovost says. "We really have to start saying, it's time for technology to start leading the way."
Dr. Pronovost offers a number of practical tips for patients:
-Be an active participant in your care. Those who learn a lot about their course of treatment tend to have better outcomes.
-Have an advocate like a family member with you in the hospital.
When you arrive for surgery:
- Talk to the surgeon while you and your family are in the waiting area.
- Identify yourself.
- Tell the doctor what operation you plan to have, and on which side of your body.
- Make sure you or a medical attendant marks the area to be operated.
- Ensure that's the operation the surgeon plans to perform.
- Your doctor should make sure all the paperwork, like consent forms and medical records, matches, listing your name and your date of birth.
More stories about healthcare issues affecting patients can be found at www.thepatientsresponse.com
Another looming hospital secret is that many healthcare workers today are working in hospitals and HAVE NO HEALTH INSURANCE themselves. Why? During a strong economy, allied health fields can't get enough students. But in a recession like the 2008 crash, tens of thousands of out-of-work people enroll in allied health schools i.e. x-ray, ultrasound, surgical tech, phlebotomy, etc. Now the work force is flooded with these careers; a supply and demand situation that favors the hospital. Using the same "wedge economics" employment tricks made famous by Walmart, hospital chains can now hire only part time or "PRN" workers so they can lower wages, deny healthcare benefits, health insurance, 401(k) matches and the like. A stressed workforce is a multi-billion dollar savings that allows high paid CEO's and Board Members to retain, even gain increased salaries, during hard times. The dangerous part (for you) is these PRN employees are quickly and easily replaced if they ever call in sick. Which means they come to work sick to save their jobs. They come to work sick so they can draw blood, sterilize surgical instruments, shoot your portable chest x-ray, etc. Sick hospital workers work bedside with all kinds of immune deficient patients every day. Hospital Human Resource departments deny knowledge this dark little secret is occuring, and workers know they will be fired if they discuss this, so it is very hard to cover these kinds of stories. Ofcourse healthcare workers in Australia, Canada, England, the rest of the world don't have this problem. There, it is unheard of. Watch the employment ads and count the PRN "open" positions, then stay out of the hospital in you live in the USA.
Just thought I would share my story as it is apt to this story. January 2009 I had a laproscopic appendectomy. The surgeon did not seem stressed or overworked. He was full of himself and his medical prowess. During the procedure, he pierced my lower bowel and I became severely septic. I almost died. I spent a month in the hospital, had to go to physical therapy because my muscles had atrophied. spent another 4 months bed ridden injecting antibiotics into my neck twice a day.
I consulted a lawyer and everything that happened after the initial surgery was blamed on sickle cell. which I have. in closing..in order to repair what went wrong, they cut a 5 inch incission into my stomach through the middle of my belly button. This incident changed my life...permanently.
I listened to this story. Sorry Marketplace, its old news.
Rarely if never does the mainstream media talk about this probably due to the fact of the heavy advertizing revenues the media gets for airing and printing the ads for Big Pharma. Watch the evening news in the US for a half hour and see how many commercials there are for these "legal" drugs
Seems that even NPR is scared to death to step on the toes of Big Pharma, a major supporter of them. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
Years ago I learned of the nosocomial infections people acquire in hospitals and of iatrogenic diseases(doctor induced) and the thousands that died annually from prescription drugs. I read Ivan Illich's Medical Nemesis many years ago.
Deaths from these drugs range from 200,000 and upward.
Why doesn't the media go after Big Pharma and Big Medicine for the needless carnage they create?
In the meanwhile, we have a mass killing of 6-7 year olds in Connecticut a week ago and there is outage. Generally when women and children are murdered their is a public outcry.
Over 30,000 die annually from auto accidents. Add to that the number that succumb to nicotine and alcohol. But thats not the problem.
When innocent children are killed, that's a major shock to most. For some reason as humans get older and die, we brush it off as business as usual.
