To Make Doctors’ Errors Less Common, Keep a Public Record

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-03/to-make-doctors-errors-less-common-keep-a-public-record.html



Surgeons have an encouraging term for their mistakes: “never events,” because they should never happen. Yet they do, with startling frequency.

At least 4,000 times a year in the U.S., surgeons leave a sponge or instrument inside a patient, perform an incorrect procedure, or operate on a wrong body part or even a wrong patient, according to a recent study from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. That estimate is probably low, based as it is on malpractice claims, because many errors don’t turn into legal actions. Some go undetected altogether.

In one in 15 cases, the mistake leads to a patient’s death.

Why can’t preventable mistakes be prevented? Studies have long established the value of operating-room checklists and other simple strategies such as marking the surgery site with indelible ink. Evidently, they aren’t universally employed. Some surgeons may think that they take too much time, or that it’s enough to rely on their own caution and competence.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. When I took torts and medical malpractice, I was told that

liability carriers were requiring hospitals and their surgeons to maintain and use checklists for all equipment, esp. the sponges, before and after surgery. Another problem of amputations of the wrong limb was "remedied" by presurgical writing on the patient "this leg, this arm", etc.

If surgeons refused to implement these safety measures, the carrier would refuse to cover the resulting malpractice.

[reteachinwi]

2. Underreported

But a reasonable estimate is that medical mistakes now kill around 200,000 Americans every year. That would make them one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/opinion/more-treatment-more-mistakes.html?_r=0

[global1]

3. With 30 to 40 Million More People Coming Into The System As A Result Of ACA....

medical errors will only worsen. Scary!!!!!

[JayhawkSD]

4. Re title: you have to be kidding

"Keep a public record?" Seriously. The first time a doctor or medical facility makes public any treatment or procedure it performed on me I will sue its ass off. Have you ever heard of HIPPA? Look it up.