Medical Malpractice e-Resource

Medication Errors Rampant and Dangerous

According to a story in today's New York Times, Medication errors harm 1.5 million people and kill several thousand each year in the United States, costing the nation at least $3.5 billion annually, the Institute of Medicine concluded in a report released on Thursday.

Drug errors are so widespread that hospital patients should expect to suffer one every day they remain hospitalized, although error rates vary by hospital and most do not lead to injury, the report concluded.

The report, "Preventing Medication Errors," cited the death of Betsy Lehman, a 39-year-old mother of two and a health reporter for The Boston Globe, as a classic fatal drug mix-up. Ms. Lehman died in 1993 after a doctor mistakenly gave her four times the appropriate dose of a toxic drug to treat her breast cancer.

Recommendations to correct these problems include systemic changes like electronic prescribing and tips for consumers like advising patients to carry complete listings of their prescriptions to every doctor's visit, the report said.

"The incidence of medication errors was surprising even to us," said J. Lyle Bootman, dean of the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. "The solutions are complex and far-reaching and will present challenges."

The report is the fourth in a series done by the institute, the nation's most prestigious medical advisory organization, that has called attention to the enormous health and financial burdens brought about by medical errors.

The first report, "To Err Is Human," was released in 1999 and caused a sensation when it estimated that medical errors of all sorts led to as many as 98,000 deaths each year -- more than was caused by highway accidents and breast cancer combined.

Read the NY Times Story http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/health/21drugerrors.html?ex=1153627200&en;=af14b5fd984cd3a6&ei;=5087%0A

Read the Report from the Institute of Medicinehttp://www.nap.edu/catalog/11623.html#toc

Business groups to keep pushing malpractice reform

Washington Bureau
Legislation to cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases failed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Senate, but business groups promised to keep fighting for the bill.

Wayne malpractice rates fall

The Detroit News
Doctors get break, but premiums remain among nation's highest, contribute to physician shortage.

Great Article on Medical Malpractice.

The following is a great excerpt from an article from consumeraffairs.com about a medical society fabricating numbers to encourage tort reform:

Routine Procedure Turned Deadly

Nancy and Shelby Medlin took their healthy 3-year old son, Max, to the hospital for a routine outpatient dental procedure. Due to his young age, Max was anesthetized. Soon after Max awoke, Nancy knew something was terribly wrong with her baby. The staff tried to tell her that she was just an overly paranoid mother, but she know better and persisted in trying to get quality care for her son. Four hours later, the doctor finally came to see Max, but it was too late. Tests concluded he was brain dead. The next day, Max was pronounced dead. Suddenly Nancy and Shelby were living every parent's worst nightmare.

Malpractice forum produces options

Key players in Washington's 4-year-old battle over medical malpractice insurance offered up a few new -- or slightly freshened up -- solutions Tuesday to keep doctors at work and patients safe.

Top ideas:

Court Strikes Down Caps on Malpractice Awards

The Wisconsin Supreme Court tossed out the state's cap on some medical malpractice awards Thursday, prompting health-care officials to warn the decision could lead to huge verdicts against doctors and exploding costs for patients.

Jury Awards $11 Million to Child With Cerebral Palsy: Nurses didn't monitor mother properly

After deliberating for about seven hours, a Philadelphia common pleas jury decided that a local hospital was 100 percent negligent in causing a newborn's cerebral edema and subsequent cerebral palsy. The jury awarded nearly $11 million dollars.

Institute of Medicine Cites Progress Since Release of Medical Errors Report

Institute of Medicine President Dr. Kenneth Shine said Wednesday that support for the IOM's recommendations aimed at reducing medical errors is growing, despite fears of litigation and implementation questions.

At the Wall Street Journal Health Care 2000 Summit here, Dr. Shine told a group of experts in the fields of medicine, business and government that progress is being made because leaders from diverse areas of health are meeting to implement strategies.