Health: Medical Errors Linked to 20 Minnesota Deaths]

[Guest guest]

Another old one .. but to me it points to a need for some oversight to

improve the quality of medical treatment in the USA. When patients die

as a result of malpractice by a doctor .. the doctor is forgiven and

continues to practice. Mistakes by folks in many other fields (not even

related to health care) usually result in them being fired .. and in

some fields it also means the end of the line for them professionally.

 

 

Butch Owen <butchbsi

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:07:57 -0800

OT: Medical Errors Linked to 20 Minnesota Deaths

 

 

Medical Errors Linked to 20 Minnesota Deaths

 

By MARTIGA LOHN

 

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Twenty patients died in Minnesota hospitals

during a 15-month period because of medical errors or oversights

including falls, faulty medical equipment and administering the wrong

medication, the state Health Department said in a new report.

 

The report, released Wednesday, documented 99 serious errors between

July 1, 2003 and Oct. 6, 2004. Minnesota is the first state to report

its mistakes under standards developed by the National Quality Forum, a

Washington-based nonprofit. New Jersey and Connecticut also adopted the

standards, which are being considered elsewhere.

 

Minnesota's most common problem - not resulting in death or disability -

was doctors forgetting foreign objects such as surgical sponges inside

patients at the end of operations. That happened 31 times.

 

St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth reported the most deaths due to medical

errors, with four. The causes were a fall, a medication error, a

malfunctioning medical device and a burn.

 

Three patients died after medical errors in Mayo Clinic facilities in

Rochester and Mankato, including two who received incorrect medications

and one apparently healthy patient who died after an operation.

 

In a 1999 report, the Institute of Medicine estimated that 44,000 to

98,000 Americans die annually because of medical mistakes. Since then,

22 states have adopted laws requiring hospitals to report serious

mistakes, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.

 

The National Quality Forum, which sets voluntary hospital standards,

developed a list of 27 mistakes such as amputating the wrong limb or

sending a baby home with the wrong family. They've been dubbed " never "

mistakes because they're so serious they're never supposed to happen.

 

It is those 27 mistakes that Minnesota hospitals reported Wednesday.

 

Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach said collecting and publishing

data on medical errors will improve safety for hospital patients in the

long run.

 

" The true value of our new reporting system lies not in the numbers but

in the underlying evaluation of the causes of the errors and the actions

that are taken to prevent them from ever occurring in the future, "

Mandernach said at a news conference.

 

01/20/05 05:34

 

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