Living with medical errors

I have a picture some place of when I went for knee surgery in 2001 of me home from the hospital with a big bandage on my right knee and the word "NO" scrawled in big letters on  my right knee. This was written by the surgeon after triple confirming with me.

Then I have the memory of me after gall bladder surgery in 2008 where I heard the nurses talking about the excessive bruising on my abdomen after a laproscopic procedure. Basically I heard the doctor must have been really rough on me because of the size and speed at which the bruise arrived - and ho w long it hurt afterwards.

In the past few years the state of Massachusetts has started requiring hospitals to report medical incidents - anything from a fall, surgery problem, wrong medicine, bedsores - annually. In the past three years - 2011-2013 - the rate has risen extensively from 366 incidents to 444 to 753 in 2013. And you say 'why the increase?' How about the electronic reporting system was adopted in 2012.

This all makes me say hmmmm..... Its nice the state wants the data reported and is requiring the electronic reporting system so that things can't be swept under the rug, so to speak. But what about me as a patient?

There is all sorts of advice given but I think it goes down to your comfort level. Lets face it, errors happen in life, 'to err is human'. But as patients we need to speak up and ask questions - what will happen, what should I expect, and communicate with family members so they can ask questions.

I would like to say that of the 753 events in 2013, 282 or 37.5% were from falls. The next largest group was 230 or 30.5% were from bedsores. The leading number after that was 44 serious injury or death from medication error.
 

Justice is served

A few years back, a French company was accused of selling breast implants that were prone to rupture and possibly even filled with toxic contents. Lovely. They were sold in 65 countries world wide and affected 300,000 women. There was even a suspected death from a ruptured implant in 2010.

Usually when we hear about these cases, companies are fined and the executives who made the bad decisions end up in tropical exiles living out their days on the company's funds. Not this time.

The president of the company will spend 4 years in a French prison. He was also fined something like 75,000 Euros. And four other executives also got lesser sentences. And there is still a manslaughter trial pending in the death in 2010.

I can say justice was served in this case.

Living with medical errors

I have a picture some place of when I went for knee surgery in 2001 of me home from the hospital with a big bandage on my right knee and the word "NO" scrawled in big letters on  my right knee. This was written by the surgeon after triple confirming with me.

Then I have the memory of me after gall bladder surgery in 2008 where I heard the nurses talking about the excessive bruising on my abdomen after a laproscopic procedure. Basically I heard the doctor must have been really rough on me because of the size and speed at which the bruise arrived - and ho w long it hurt afterwards.

In the past few years the state of Massachusetts has started requiring hospitals to report medical incidents - anything from a fall, surgery problem, wrong medicine, bedsores - annually. In the past three years - 2011-2013 - the rate has risen extensively from 366 incidents to 444 to 753 in 2013. And you say 'why the increase?' How about the electronic reporting system was adopted in 2012.

This all makes me say hmmmm..... Its nice the state wants the data reported and is requiring the electronic reporting system so that things can't be swept under the rug, so to speak. But what about me as a patient?

There is all sorts of advice given but I think it goes down to your comfort level. Lets face it, errors happen in life, 'to err is human'. But as patients we need to speak up and ask questions - what will happen, what should I expect, and communicate with family members so they can ask questions.

I would like to say that of the 753 events in 2013, 282 or 37.5% were from falls. The next largest group was 230 or 30.5% were from bedsores. The leading number after that was 44 serious injury or death from medication error.