Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

An Illinois woman has started a website designed to improve hospital safety entitled Campaign Zero. She began the website after Medicare discontinued reimbursing hospitals for preventable hospital hazards. The website focuses on preventing medical errors by zeroing in on what can be prevented with a little bit of knowledge. It also discusses ways in which everyone can help prevent medical error.

One area that can be improved is hospital acquired infections. Campaign Zero estimates that 2.2 million people are affected with hospital-acquired infections every year. More than 135,000 Americans wrongfully die from these hospital-acquired infections, most of which are preventable. The biggest culprit in the spread of this disease is unwashed, or poorly washed, hands. There is a simple way to prevent this medical error: to have employees simply wash their hands with soap and water. The website shows a video highlighting the easy way to wash hands and save lives.

Campaign Zero also highlights ways in which to prevent surgical error. The website’s study estimates that between 1,300 and 2,700 surgical errors occur every year in America. These include events when patients are mistaken for each other. Also, surgical tools and sponges are left behind in patients. In fact, 1 out of every 1,500 abdominal surgeries results in a left tool or sponge. The average cost of these types of surgical errors runs around $40,323. The website suggests showering before surgery and marking the part of your body that is to be operated on in order to prevent these errors. This website is a valuable tool for anyone that has a loved one in the hospital.

A detailed safety analysis conducted on behalf of Hearst Newspapers found that at least one in six of the studied facilities had preventable deaths. These occurred from common procedures, including cases in which medical instruments were left inside patients and transfusions were done incorrectly. Many hospitals have poor performance in the safety indicators developed in recent years by federal health researchers. The study found that doctors fudge death certificates, leaving out information that would point to medical errors as a prime cause of death. One woman was reported to have died of pneumonia on her death certificate. However hospital records show she initially went to the hospital for a shot of diuretic to treat leg swelling and then contracted an infection which caused the pneumonia. The CDC is aware of the inaccuracies in death certificates. They stated that medical error is “often not reported” because it gives doctors problems down the road. Some groups say that a nationwide reporting system is too expensive and too difficult to implement. However, it may decrease the amount of medical malpractice cases. To read more about the medical errors, please click the link.

Although a study conducted 10 years ago stated that a mandatory nationwide reporting system for medical errors was imperative, one still does not exist today. The AMA and the American Hospital Association vehemently opposed an attempt by President Clinton to create a mandatory reporting system for serious errors. The groups launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that said mandatory reporting would drive medical errors underground. If medical errors and infections were better tracked, they would top the list of accidental deaths. The recent study by Hearst Newspapers state that approximately 99,000 patients a year die as a result medical error. To read more about the mandatory reporting system, please click the links.

An issue of Women's Health this summer touched upon issues that concern a lot of Levin & Perconti blog readers - how to avoid medical mishaps. We wanted to share the startling statistics that the magazine provided. Each year, nearly 1.5 million Americans are injured by medication errors and up to 98,000 die in hospital due to medical errors. To avoid being a victim, Women's Health suggested that you always check your prescriptions, find rested workers, and personalize your case file.

To read more about how to take control of your medical care.

A new Medicare study claims that too many people are dying needless deaths within hospitals and are carelessly turning out patients after short stays that end up back in the hospital within 30 days. John Rumsfeld of the Denver VA Medical Center and chief science officer for the American College of Cardiology's National Data Registry, called this a “double failure” of our healthcare system. Death rates in hospitals below the national average tend to be in the nation’s smallest and poorest counties. Currently, organizations are trying to disseminate information to patients in order to educate them on health care and help them seek out higher standards of care. If you feel you have been a victim of medical malpractice or medical negligence, you should consider consulting a medical malpractice attorney.

Read more about Medicare’s hospital study here.

Less than half of all Medicare recipients get a stress test before having common non-emergency procedures to reopen blocked coronary arteries, despite the fact that The American Heart Associations recommend it. A cardiac stress test, which is used to measure blood flow to the heart during exercise, can help determine who’s likely to benefit from procedures such as balloon angioplasty, in which a tiny balloon is used to reopen a blocked artery. A study in the Journal of American Medical Association found that only 44 percent of Medicare patients surveyed had a stress test before surgery. The article also stated that there might be confusion among doctors about when to choose surgical intervention over drug therapy for the treatment of coronary-artery disease. The article also linked doctors’ Medicare payment to how closely they follow these recommendations which could prevent unnecessary surgical procedures and medical malpractice suits. To read the full story, click here.

Doctors say that medical mistakes can have more serious consequences in children than they do in adults. A study in the journal Pediatrics found that problems due to medications occurred in 11 percent of children who were in the hospital, and that 22 percent of them were preventable. An Institute of Medicine report found that besides medication errors, children are also the victims of diagnostic errors, incorrect procedures or tests, infections and injuries. Medical errors are a greater threat to children than to adults because they are physically small and their immune systems are still developing. Even a tiny increase in the dose of medication can have serious effects, especially in premature babies. Children deteriorate more rapidly than adults and they are less able to communicate their problems. 32 percent of medication errors in children in the operating room involved the wrong dose, while this only occurs in 14 percent of adults. Experts have come up with ways to reduce the threat of medical malpractice in children such as ID bracelets, ensuring that health care providers are hygienic, getting all the correct information, and asking questions. Although these are ways to reduce risks, it is ultimately the role of the physicians and staff to ensure that children are properly medicated. To read the full story, click here.

A study in the May issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery shows that the rate of limb amputation is higher in Chicago’s black communities than in suburban white communities. The data showed that blacks in Chicago are five times more likely to have a limb amputated than suburban whites. Notably, many amputations are preventable. Limb amputations can often be the product of low quality health care and doctor errors, poor access to health care resources, and a doctor's failure to give information about procedures and treatments. One of the more common causes of amputations is untreated pressure sores that may result from diabetes and heart disease.

Read the news story here.

A recent op-ed article scrutinized health care oversight. The article argued that there is no reason that any consumer seeking preventive care should risk death while seeking routine medical care at the hands of a profiteering physician. When culpability in a medical malpractice lawsuit becomes revealed, there is no reason that others with close ties to a bad doctor should remain in positions of oversight. The article concludes that a full-scale, top-to-bottom failure of government systems have allowed years of risky behavior to put others at risk of medical malpractice.

For the full article.

Around 47 million Americans don't have health care, but even those that do agree that problems in the United States healthcare system need reform. In a recent article, 10 health care experts offered their personal suggestions on how to improve the country's situation.

1. Mend the medical schools
2. Single-payer insurance (creating a national system)
3. Individual, not company, plans
4. Divert the dollar to the doc
5. Pay for the care of populations, not events (high quality preventive care)
6. Cut costs for med students
7. Eliminate insurance all together
8. More health centers (affordable, community health centers)
9. Stimulating positive-sum competition (giving more info to providers and consumers)
10. Keep it low-tech (low-tech approaches to preventive healthcare)

Click here to read the descriptions of the experts who offered these ideas, in addition to more information about each view.

The Illinois Hospital Report Card, the Illinois Consumer Guide to Health Care and another project meant to monitor medical malpractice issues in Illinois hospitals were groundbreaking and exciting initiatives passed in the state in the last four years. However, not much has been done to follow through on these laws. The Chicago Patient Safety Forum has been a strong critic of the delays in implementation even though last year's Patient Safety Summit in Chicago produced few results. The purpose of the laws was to provide the public with information about their doctors and the medical mistakes they make as well as the hospitals and issues like hospital-acquired infections.

One goal of this legislation was to examine instances of medical malpractice such as birth injuries and surgical errors. The Illinois Hospital Report Card was meant to monitor hospital-acquired infections and if the hospitals are adequately screening patients. It also was to focus on the quality and skills of nursing staffs. The lack of progress has been blamed on problems with the legislation itself, a lack of funding and staff, and bureaucratic delays. Legislators and other officials alike, such as the Illinois Hospital Association, have stated that patients have the right to be informed about their doctors and hospitals.

Click here for the full article

Illinois participated in the nation-wide trend to pass legislation making it mandatory to publish health care "report cards" disclosing information about hospital acquired infections and medical malpractice. But while over a dozen states have begun posting the information on the internet, Illinois has yet to move forward with the initiative. Many states publish more specific report cards dealing with "never events," or mistakes that should never happen, but do. Some examples of "never events" include performing surgery on the wrong patient or body part and other inexcusable examples of negligence. Illinois plans to publish a report, but progress has yet to be seen.

Click here for the full article

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced officially that beginning in October 2008 expenses incurred from medical mistakes made by health care providers will no longer be eligible for reimbursement. Providers will also be prohibited from charging patients for these expenses. Private insurers will likely follow suit. Medical malpractice is a pervasive problem for health care in Illinois and in America as a whole. Each year, 1.5 million patients are injured and thousands die from medical errors. The expenses resulting from these mistakes add up, averaging about $29 billion in additional care services and loss of productivity. It is yet to be determined how CMS will determine what the appropriate standard of care is, and it will also have to define "preventable errors" in cases of medical malpractice.

All patients being treated in hospitals, whether for serious surgery or routine procedures, should be made aware of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA), an infection acquired during hospitalization. 100,000 people die of MRSA annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one out of every 22 patients will acquire an infection during hospitalizations totaling 1.7 million patients a year. It is also estimated that out of that group, 99,000 would die. MRSA has recently been proven as avoidable in many cases. Pittsburgh Veterans Hospital has cracked down on doctor hygiene and hospital cleanliness, while taking other minor precautions and has noticed a decrease in MRSA infections. According to the hospital's chief of staff, "the infection control program cost about $500,000 a year, including test kits, salaries for 3 workers, and the $175-per-patient cost of gloves, gowns and hand sanitizer. The hospital... realized a net savings of nearly $900,000 when the number of infected patients fell." Hospitals should take note, especially since Medicare will no longer pay for "preventable" conditions induced by carelessness or medical malpractice in hospitals. One of the "preventable" categories is certain types of hospital-acquired infections. The hospitals themselves will have to cover these often enormous amounts.

Continue reading "Avoidable infections acquired in hospitals kill 100,000 a year" »

The American Cancer Society has recently produced an ad campaign stressing the need of adequate quality health care for Americans in order to lower cancer death rates. Among the poorly insured and uninsured, cancer is most often detected at an advanced stage, too frequently proving fatal. The American Cancer Society's goals of reducing cancer death and incidence rates by 2015, beginning in 1990, will not be met unless access to screening and treatment becomes available to all patients. The society's chief executive stated that, "lack of access will be a bigger cancer killer than tobacco," unless the health care system is amended. The delay in diagnosing poorly or uninsured patients causes them to bear the costs of more expensive and difficult treatments. Within families afflicted with cancer, one in four will use most or all of their savings, including one in five insured families, to fight the disease. 47 million Americans do not have health insurance, and millions more only have limited coverage. Access to health care for all Americans will lower cancer death rates, among innumerable other health ailments.

Click here for the full article

The Illinois legislature has passed, and the governor has signed, legislation requiring the screening of hospital patients for drug-resistant staph infections. The MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) infections infect over a million patients and kill tens of thousands every year. MRSA is the most common infection acquired in hospitals and Illinois is leading the nation in confronting the controversial issue. The law becomes effective immediately. Hospitals are now required to test all patients in intensive care units for MRSA and isolate patients with the bacteria. The bill was controversial because some hospital infection control practitioners claimed it would hinder response times to emergency threats. The same group introduced legislation requiring hospitals to prevent the spread of infection by analyzing which infections posed the most risks at different facilities. Although this bill was intended to replace the MRSA bill, both were passed into law. Fortunately for patients, the bills are aimed at protecting patients from unnecessarily contracting dangerous infections in hospitals.

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Finally, the health industry is starting to admit their errors in cases of clear medical malpractice, offering fair compensation to victims at the outset. The results have shown that honesty is the best policy. Honest at the outset has resulted in fewer medical malpractice lawsuits and the recovery of more compensation to the injured patient without legal expenses and expert fees.

For the full article.

A recent report regarding medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, focusing on surgical errors, was recently released by the Patient Safety Authority. 175 errors were made in the state during the past two and a half years, not including 253 close calls. These errors can lead to serious physical and financial strain, or even wrongful death. "Wrong-site" surgeries are a persistent problem and are clearly avoidable. Pennsylvania is a leader in public accountability for medical and surgical errors. In an effort to reduce the costs of health care, the Governor proposed that the state should cease to pay for care involving hospital-acquired infections, wrong-site surgeries, and other instances of medical malpractice. It is also the only state that requires hospitals to report near-misses.

The report cited wrong-site surgeries including the removal of a patient's healthy thyroid and incorrect cancer diagnosis as the result of a laboratory mix-up, an incorrect incision on the wrong side of a brain injury patient's head, and a surgeon inserting a needle into a patient's right knee when the surgery was planned for the other leg. In 83 reported cases of wrong-site surgeries in the state, the procedure was completed before the mistake was detected.

Click here for the full article

As the country transitions to a more electronic world, hospitals and healthcare providers are implementing electronic record-keeping systems. Electronic healthcare records (EHRs), would allow healthcare practitioners and hospitals to provide higher quality care because records would be kept and recorded more accurately in an electronic record world. Medical malpractice lawsuits may decrease and medical malpractice cases against hospitals will be easier to prosecute as the country’s healthcare system transitions to EHRs. If patients are receiving higher quality of care, fewer errors and incidents of malpractice will occur and lawsuits will decrease. On the other hand, medical malpractice lawsuits that are sometimes hindered by inaccurate or incomplete record-keeping, will become easier to prosecute if all records pertaining to the patient are centralized and accessible in an electronic world. Further, many records or documents claimed to be “lost” by hospitals and doctors may be easier to recover during the discovery process.

Of course, EHRs are not without risks. Hospitals will need to implement polices and procedures to ensure that address the risks of EHRs are addressed. These risks include doctors spending more time in front of computer screens than with patients, inaccurate data entry, and unauthorized access and errors related to problems that arise during the transition to EHRs.

Click here for the full article.

Victims of medical malpractice are mobilizing to help prevent medical errors and promote patient safety. Sorrel King created the Josie King Foundation to fund safety initiatives at hospitals in honor of her 18-month-old daughter who died after a series of medical mistakes. She also donated some of the financial settlement to the hospital where the errors occurred in order to start a children’s safety program. King launched a new web site, josieking.org, with advice and information for patients and the medical community on how to increase patient safety and what to do if medical errors do occur.

Continue reading "Patients and families affected by medical errors organize a grass-roots movement" »