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11/19/08 - Feeling a bit spongy after surgery?
www.oregonlive.com
""Retained foreign body" is the technical euphemism for a medical mistake that happens more often than many think: An object gets left inside the patient when the surgeon finishes sewing up.
"Usually, they're sponges," says Jim Dameron, administrator of the Oregon Patient Safety Commission. Guide wires, needles and instruments are less commonly left behind.
Oregon hospitals reported 50 instances of "foreign objects accidentally left during procedure" last year. That's the highest in the past six years, when the annual average was 43.”
... click to read more
11/17/08 - U.S. Has high rate of Medication Errors
www.mnnursinghomelaw.com
"According to a recent Health News article, U.S. patients suffer more medical errors, U.S. patients suffer the highest medical errors when compared to seven other countries. About one-third of the patients in the U.S. experienced medical errors and poorly coordinated care.”
... click to read more
11/12/08 - Hundreds of Texas Registered Nurses March on Capitol Thursday to Demand Lifesaving Patient Safety Improvements
www.marketwatch.com
"AUSTIN, Texas, Nov 12, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Hundreds of registered nurses from nearly every city in Texas will march to and rally at the state Capitol this Thursday in support of the "Texas Hospital Patient Protection Act of 2009,"which will save the lives of untold numbers of Texans by cracking down on unsafe practices in today's hospitals. The nurses will be addressed by legislators, healthcare experts, and activists.”
... click to read more
11/12/08 - The Hospital Is Watching You
online.wsj.com
"The next time you're in a hospital, they may be watching you.
Hospitals are increasingly relying on electronic tracking systems to keep tabs on equipment and lab specimens, and even to monitor the location of patients and staff. But the heightened surveillance is raising some safety and privacy concerns.”
... click to read more
11/11/08 - Why We Need 1,170 Codes for Angioplasty
online.wsj.com
"Government regulators are expected soon to overhaul the aging coding system that doctors and hospitals use to bill insurers -- a switch that many in health care say is necessary, but that could initially cause headaches for consumers and their doctors.”
... click to read more
11/09/08 - Dentist faces new lawsuit
seattlepi.nwsource.com
"A dentist and oral surgeon with a controversial past, including a raft of malpractice suits and a reprimand in a patient's death, has been sued again, this time by a Kirkland woman who said he botched a breast reduction on her three years ago when she was 15.”
... click to read more
11/09/08 - Preventable Medical Errors and Hospital Mistakes Kill More People than Automobiles, Breast Cancer or AIDS; Where is the Outrage?
legalnurseconsultanttom.com
"According to the results of the Washington Post healthcare poll published on October 20, 2003, the public is satisfied with the quality of the health care system today but worried about its future.”
... click to read more
11/02/08 - NJ eyes help for patients after medical errors
www.newsday.com
"TRENTON, N.J. - Hospital patients and the companies insuring them would no longer be on the hook to pay for care after a serious medical error occurs, under legislation introduced this month by a New Jersey assemblyman. ”
... click to read more
10/27/08 - Boston Hospital’s Honesty Means Bad News About Botches
blogs.wsj.com
"Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, has been lining up with the folks pushing for more transparency in health care. Lately, though, that’s meant some bad publicity about mistakes at the hospital — incidents that are testing Levy’s resolve, the Boston Globe reports this morning.”
... click to read more
10/23/08 - Reports of serious drug reactions hit record
ap.google.com
"WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of serious problems and deaths linked to medications reported to the government set a record in the first three months of this year, a health industry watchdog group said Wednesday.”
... click to read more
10/22/08 - Breaking the cycle of waste in healthcare
www.boston.com
"IMAGINE what would happen if we learned that a major business was wasting a third of its revenue by grossly overspending while rewarding poor quality and mistakes. Everyone from the company's board members to its shareholders would be outraged. They would demand answers. And they would demand change.”
... click to read more
10/20/08 - Infection warnings spotlighted by
health care providers
www.pennlive.com
"Not long ago, infections were a little understood and sometimes hidden health care problem. Now we have "International Infection Prevention Week," which runs through Saturday. ”
... click to read more
10/20/08 - Hospitals stepping up safety efforts
www.pbn.com
"How it happens is easy to see: A drug meant for an elderly man in Room 205 is accidentally given to another elderly man in the adjacent bed. Two drugs in near-identical vials are on the same shelf, and in a rush, someone grabs the wrong one. A handwritten “1.5” is read as “15.”
... click to read more
10/19/08 - Hospital wristband colors can be a risky shorthand
www.chron.com
"At Memorial Hermann hospitals, a red wristband on a patient's arm signifies an allergy to a medication.
To staffers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, a red bracelet means the patient is at risk of falling.
And at various hospitals across Texas, at least six colors are used to denote do-not-resuscitate orders."
... click to read more
10/17/08 - Medical Miscommunication
brainblogger.com
"Medical miscommunication is a very real problem in healthcare today. Miscommunication is essentially the failure to convey relevant medical information to key players in the medical team; resulting in minor errors or even malpractice. Ineffective communication may occur between patient and doctor or between physicians and experts."
... click to read more
10/16/08 - Death Drip: When Lifesaving Drugs Endanger Lives
blogs.abcnews.com
"Actor Dennis Quaid plays Ernie Davis’s coach at Syracuse University in his new movie, “The Express.” But offscreen, Quaid is enmeshed in a different sort of drama -- one that took a near-tragic turn last November when, as you may have heard, his newborn twins were twice mistakenly given 1,000 times the proper dose of the blood thinner Heparin, as Quaid testified before Congress recently."
... click to read more
10/15/08 - DCMH pharmacists highlight vital role in improving patient safety
www.deltacountyindependent.com
"Pharmacists at Delta County Memorial Hospital will use the occasion of National Hospital & Health System Pharmacy Week, Oct. 19-25, to underscore the many new and vital roles they now play in patient care."
... click to read more
10/15/08 - Never Events vs. Preventable Adverse Events
detroit.injuryboard.com
"For almost a decade, since my husband’s death, I have been studying patient safety issues and medical errors. I was disappointed that the Union Leader article “It Should Never Happen” (Oct., 12, 21008) did not give clear and concise information to the public."
... click to read more
10/14/08 - Michigan Medical Malpractice Lawyers | Medical Malpractice Defined
detroit.injuryboard.com
"Medical malpractice occurs when a patient has been injured because of a preventable error or negligent care when receiving medical treatment. Medical malpractice is caused by a doctor, nurse, or someone else in the medical or healthcare profession. This means..."
... click to read more
10/14/08 - From Hand Washing to Handheld Devices: Hospitals Examine Error Prevention Methods
www.businesswire.com
"MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new survey of healthcare quality professionals by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) examines specific solutions that U.S. hospitals and patients can take to prevent medical errors. On Oct. 1, Medicare stopped paying hospitals for a list of so-called “never events”—medical errors that are preventable, clearly identifiable, and serious in their consequences for patients."
... click to read more
10/8/08 - Would Your Doctor Tell You?
www.cbs12.com
"Only about a half of U.S. pediatricians surveyed said they would admit making a mistake to the family of a child under their care. "
... click to read more
9/25/08 - On fire in the OR: Hundreds are hurt every year
www.msnbc.msn.com
"Rita Talbert's operation was supposed to be a simple thyroid surgery, three hours, in and out, in the spring of 2005.
Instead, the Stafford, Va., woman woke up a week later in intensive care, in agonizing pain and horrified at the face she saw in the mirror. "
... click to read more
9/24/08 - Alert Issued on Use of Blood Thinners
news.health.com
"In the wake of several high-profile medication errors, some of them fatal, involving widely used blood thinners, the Joint Commission has released an alert recommending strategies to reduce these errors."
... click to read more
9/24/08 - Joint Commission Alert: Prevent Blood Thinner Deaths and Overdoses
marketwatch.com
"A number of recent high profile errors related to commonly used blood thinners highlight a safety issue that too frequently results in harm or even death to patients, according to a Joint Commission alert issued today that offers solutions to this medication safety issue."
... click to read more
9/20/08 - Medicare to cut some reimbursements Oct. 1
theday.com
"Medicare calls them “never events” and “preventable hospital-acquired conditions.”
Starting Oct. 1, the federal health insurance program for the elderly will no longer reimburse hospitals for treatment of a dozen conditions that can arise in the course of hospital care, including bed sores, urinary infections from catheters, falls, surgical site infections and surgery on the wrong body part. "
... click to read more
9/20/08 - Hospitals ‘Step’ it up
minotdailynews.com
"Fifteen North Dakota hospitals recently attended a specialized team training session in Bismarck for the TeamSTEPPS program, which is focused on improving health-care professionals' communication skills in an effort to ensure even safer patient care."
... click to read more
9/19/08 - Hospital Mistakes Not Being Reported
lansing.injuryboard.com
"Hospitals and physicians not only have a duty to provide competent care, but also to notify the patients if they have been harmed by their negligence."
... click to read more
9/14/08 - Small Patients, Big Consequences in Medical Errors
nytimes.com
"WHEN 6-year-old Chance Pendleton came out of surgery for a wandering eye, it was obvious that something was not right. “He was crying hysterically, vomiting and kept saying, ‘I wish I was dead,’ ” his mother, Grace Alexander, of Paris, Tex., recalled."
... click to read more
9/9/08 - Study finds errors in Pa. VA hospital treatments
ap.google.com(Associates Press)
"PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Some 55 prostate cancer patients were given too-low doses of radiation treatment at the local Veterans Affairs hospital in the past six years, and federal investigators want to know why."
... click to read more
9/6/08 - Medical Errors More Prevalent In Hospitalized Patients With CKD
MedicalNewsToday
"Hospitalized patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at higher risk for adverse consequences of medical care compared with those without the disease, according to a study appearing in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN)."
... click to read more
9/6/08 - Tampa General won't see cuts in Medicare funding
tampabay.com
"Tampa General Hospital has fixed safety problems endangering psychiatric patients there, federal officials said Friday.
After a four-day investigation, surveyors have signed off on the hospital's plan to improve safety in its psychiatric unit, ending the threat to stop Medicare funding to the hospital."
... click to read more
9/1/08 - State hospitals to use same color-coded bracelets for safety's sake
The Birmingham News, al.com
"Sometimes the fix to serious situations is beautifully simple. Such is the case with a new program that the Alabama Hospital Association is pushing for patient safety. Hospitals now use color-coded wristbands to signify certain patient conditions, such as whether the patient has a serious allergy or is at risk of falling. "
... click to read more
8/29/08 - Report points out OR staff lapse in Hub surgical error
Boston Herald
"A state investigation into a surgery on the wrong part of a patient’s body at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that the operating room staff failed to perform a routine and crucial verbal safety check before the opposition. "
... click to read MORE
8/19/08 - Costs tied to wrongful surgeries, medication errors not charged to patients in Utah
The Salt Lake Tribune
"Wrong-site surgeries and major injuries from medication errors are so unacceptable that Utah hospitals will not charge patients for the care it takes to fix the mistake. "
... click to read MORE
8/18/08 - Doctors Medical Center fined for fatal errors
MercuryNews
"Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo has been fined $50,000 for medical errors in which two patients died."
... click to read MORE
8/17/08 - Mother's death leaves family questioning care
PostTribune
"“She was not looking forward to this surgery,” Cheryl Harrell said. “She was scared to death of it.""
... click to read MORE
8/17/08 - Iowans fired for alleged privacy breaches
DesMoinesRegister
"Medical workers who share confidential patient information with other people run the risk of being fired. Here are some firings that have become public through claims for unemployment benefits:"
... click to read MORE
8/15/08 - State investigating Enloe after hospital error
CentralValleyBusinessTimes
"Enloe Medical Center in Chico is being investigated by the state Department of Public Health after a July 31 incident involving a patient and a mis-adjusted intravenous feed.
The error involved a medication that was administered at a rate greater than what was ordered, the hospital says."
... click to read MORE
8/14/08 - Hearing Today in Infants' Heparin Overdose Case
YourLawyer.com
"On July 6, 17 premature babies being treated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Christus Spohn Hospital South in Corpus Christi, Texas were overdosed with the blood thinner, Heparin. The deaths of twin babies—Keith and Kaylynn Garcia—are believed linked to the hospital error"
... click to read MORE
8/12/08 - Abbott patient burned during surgery
StarTribune
"A patient having heart pacemaker surgery at Abbott Northwestern Hospital was burned on her face, lips and shoulder when a fire burst out from under the sterile drapes covering her body."
... click to read MORE
8/08/08 - More Insurers Refusing to Cover Hospitals’ Costly Mistakes
findingDulcinea
"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois will no longer pay for major medical errors. Several insurers have done the same in other states, and more still are moving in that direction."
... click to read MORE
8/07/08 - Illinois ponders how to treat medical errors
ChicagoTribune
"While other states move to prevent serious medical errors in hospitals, Illinois is dragging its feet.
Nearly 20 states are contemplating withholding Medicaid payments from hospitals that commit serious medical mistakes. Illinois Medicaid officials say they haven't decided what to do."
... click to read MORE
8/07/08 - Past time to prevent
TheTimes, NJ
" AARP New Jersey's chief legislative advocate Marilyn Askin has recently been informed by her doctors that she must receive hip replacement surgery. Marilyn trusts her doctors and knows that the procedure is fairly routine. Thanks to the Patient Safety Act of 2004, she also knows that 450 medical errors occur in the state each year. Yet Marilyn has no idea how many of these medical errors occurred in the hospital where she is being admitted -- or which hospitals may have a better record. Patients like Marilyn can only wonder and worry about the safety of their medical facilities."
... click to read MORE
8/03/08 - More doctors opt for full disclosure
BostonHerald
"More doctors opt for full disclosure
Hospitals and doctors are not required by law to tell patients when medical mistakes are made, but safety advocates say more and more hospitals are tackling the unpopular shroud of secrecy."
... click to read MORE
8/01/08 - Fatal Medical Mistakes You Can Avoid
ReadersDigest
"An alarming new report out this week shows that fatal medication errors have skyrocketed. Researchers at the University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, looked at U.S. death certificates from 1983 to 2004 (nearly 50 million of them), but especially at the approximately 225,000 where the cause of death was a fatal medication error (FME). What did they find?"
... click to read MORE
8/01/08 - Lawmaker, AARP seek data on hospital errors
Courierpostonline
"AARP and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, in a telephone conference sponsored by the AARP, discussed releasing to the public data on medical mistakes by health care facilities."
... click to read MORE
7/29/2008 - Dr. Kumar had a radio interview on station WHTC-AM in MI. The host was Red Kingman, who hosts a morning called Red’s Place.
07/28/2008 - Dr. Kumar was interviewed for Healthwise, WQUB, with Mandy Vilizant. This will air Wednesday July 30th in IL.
7/27/2008 - Dr. Kumar and John McCormack had a radio interview on 95.9 WATD out of Boston. Ellen Kagan was the host, and it aired 10am ES
7/27/08 - Uninsured doctors on the rise in South Florida
Sun-Sentinel
"South Florida has become the nation's capital for doctors without medical malpractice insurance"
... click to read MORE
7/26/08 - Who will pay for errors in your medical care?
GreenvilleOnline
"When a sponge is left in a patient after an operation or he is given the wrong blood, additional surgeries and complications ensue. But who pays for that follow-up care?"
... click to read MORE
7/19/08 - Fully inform patients about medical errors
CourierPostOnline
The state's annual list of preventable medical mistakes must get more specific to benefit patients.
... click to read MORE
7/18/08 - Should a Surgeon Be Punished for Operating on the Wrong Side?
The Wall Street Journal
A few weeks ago, a surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center operated on the wrong side of a patient. This is a grievous error, one of the so-called “never events” that’s just not supposed to happen anymore. It still does happen though, so what was perhaps most striking about this incident was the openness with which the hospital administration handled the whole thing.
... click to read MORE
7/13/08 - She expected routine surgery -- but not flesh-eating bacteria
Los Angeles Times
Two years later, Alicia Cole says she's still recovering from her experience at Providence Saint Joseph. The hospital says it ranks 'above average' in the state for surgical infection prevention.
... click to read MORE
7/11/08 - New Hospital Rankings From 'US News'
U.S. News & World Report - Washington,DC,USA
But does anyone have a better way to stop what arguably is the most preventable of all medical errors—cutting into a patient in the wrong place?
... click to read MORE
7/11/08 - New hospital policies aim to prevent mistakes, conflicts
Wausau Daily Herald - Wausau,WI,USA
The goal is to reduce potential for medical errors that could harm patients. Medication errors frequently result from communication breakdowns, ...
... click to read MORE
7/7/08 - The Dennis Quaid Medical Legal Case: Q & A with Attorney Clifford Rieders
"The number of patients who die due to preventable medical errors in US hospitals is staggering - the equivalent of two 747s crashing every day."
... click to read MORE
6/30/08 - Data on number of patients injured in serious medical 'never events'
"About 100 patients suffer injuries each month in California because of preventable medical errors, the Los Angeles Times reports."
... click to read MORE
6/30/08 - Hospitals work to cure errors
"Metro Detroit hospitals are stepping up efforts to reduce costly and often traumatic medical errors, in preparation for new rules that will make them bear the cost of the mistakes they make when treating patients."
... click to read MORE
6/30/08 - Serious patient errors at California hospitals disclosed in state filings
"About 100 Californians a month are being harmed in adverse events considered preventable. A lawmaker proposes banning reimbursements to hospitals for some types of injuries."
... click to read MORE
6/27/08 - WHO Proposes Checklist to Reduce Surgery Errors
"Since the 1930s, airplane pilots have run through checklists before taking off. Now the World Health Organization wants surgeons all over the globe to use them, too."
... click to read MORE
6/26/08 - Are Perks Compromising MD Ethics?
"Conflict Of Interest Issues Raised By Drug Company Freebies Given To Doctors"
... click to read MORE
6/22/08 - A Script for Safety
"Veronica Beasley called to her husband Bill to phone the paramedics. The Westminster woman was wracked with stomach pain and a “creepy” feeling up the back of her neck that she said she knew was anaphylactic shock."
... click to read MORE.
6/19/08 - Errors cause 98,000 hospital deaths
from Cynthia McCormick |
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"A state police trooper currently stationed at the South Yarmouth barracks, John McCormack is accustomed to working within a chain of command and respecting authority. So when his 1-year-old daughter, Taylor, ended up at Children's Hospital Boston, he let the doctors take charge. It's a decision, McCormack says, he lived to regret."
... click to read MORE.
6/19/08 - Deaths raise concerns at Mount Sinai
"An Eyewitness News investigation has found some unexpected deaths at Mount Sinai that have two families sounding a warning about weekend care at the renown hospital."
... click to read MORE.
5/24/08 - Vets taking PTSD drugs die in sleep
"A Putnam County veteran who was taking medication prescribed for post-traumatic stress disorder died in his sleep earlier this month, in circumstances similar to the deaths of three other area veterans earlier this year."
... click to read MORE.
| 5/20/08 - John McCormack, chapter subject and part of the Fatal Care team, photographed in May presenting a book to Patty Labelle, an advocate for reduction of preventable medical errors. |
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5/14/08 - Today, Dennis Quaid testified against pharmaceutical company liability caps before a congressional subcommittee. Quaid mentioned the three Indiana family heparin tragedy that Quantros President and CMO, Sanjaya Kumar MD, carefully describes in his new book Fatal Care: Survive in the U.S. Health System. In addition, Quaid referenced an analogy that appears on page 15 of the Prologue when he stated:
" Approximately 100,000 U.S. patients die every year because of medical errors in hospitals alone. It’s a toll we would
never tolerate in aviation, nearly the equivalent of a full 747 crashing every single day."
- Dennis Quaid, May 14, 2008, to the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Listen to the Audio Excerpt from the Book
Pembroke story featured in book on medical errors
4/15/08--After John McCormack’s 13-month-old daughter died in 2000 after doctors delayed emergency surgery, the Pembroke resident became an advocate for patient safety.
Click Here to view the full article
 Click HERE to launch a video of John McCormack, father of Taylor McCormack (Chapter 5, Fatal Care), testifying to the Massachusetts Public Health Committee about the Patient Safety Act, H 2059
Click to get Windows Media Player or Quick Time
“Medication errors injure at least 1.5 million Americans annually”
~ Source: “Preventing Medication Errors,” Institute of Medicine, July 2006
"We need to reduce costs and medical errors with better information technology"
~ President Bush, State of the Union Address, January 23, 2007
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