Medical Mistakes: What ever happened to "do no harm"?

Medical Mistakes: What ever happened to "do no harm"?
Every doctor makes the promise to "do no harm." But
doctors, nurses, physicians' assistants, nursing homes, and
hospitals do make mistakes. And a shocking report from the
Institute of Medicine shows medical mistakes are a common
occurrence and pose potentially life-threatening risks for
patients. If medical mistakes were counted among the
leading causes of death in America, they would be eighth on
the list.

Surgical mistakes such as amputating the wrong foot
frequently make headlines. But we may never hear about the
more subtle errors, like a delay in diagnosis or
misdiagnosis which costs precious time which could have
been used to fight an illness or disease. These kinds of
medical mistakes also cost lives.

According to the report, medical mistakes are a huge
problem. It quoted studies that estimate anywhere from
44,000 to 98,000 hospitalized Americans die every year from
treatment errors or surgical mistakes. To put that
statistic into sharper focus, even the low-end figure of
44,000 deaths exceeds the number of people who die each
year in highway car accidents, of breast cancer or AIDS.

The cause, according to the Institute of Medicine, is not
recklessness on the part of doctors or nurses but rather
basic flaws in the way hospitals, clinics and pharmacies
operate.

Most doctors have notoriously poor handwriting which often
leads to prescription mistakes. Pharmacists try to
decipher a dosage: was it 10 milligrams or 10 micrograms?
Or even the name of the prescribed drug can be confusing.
Too many drug names are very similar. For example: the
painkiller Celebrex and the anti-seizure drug Cerebyx; or
Narcan, which treats morphine overdoses, and Norcuron,
which can paralyze breathing muscles.

Safeguards have already been implemented to reduce the
likelihood of such mistakes. Many hospitals are now using
computerized prescription systems in an attempt to ensure
that pharmacists don't misread doctors' scrawled
prescriptions. And the Food and Drug Administration is
attempting to reduce drug confusion by ensuring that the
names of new drugs don't sound too similar to drugs already
on the market.

But far more is needed. There needs to be a concerted and
comprehensive effort to raise the bar on consumer safety in
the health care industry. Insurance companies and health
maintenance organizations should also bear the burden of
improving safety.

Unfortunately the patient may be the one who can do the
most to prevent many medical mistakes. As a patient, you
have the time and motivation to double-check your diagnosis
and medications. Research your condition. Education can
allow you to double-check your diagnosis, examine all
possible treatments, check your medications for possible
adverse effects, and so on.

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Christopher M. Davis is the managing partner of Davis Law
Group. He brings over 15 years of practical yet innovative
experience to personal injury cases. He practices law in
Seattle, WA. You can learn more about Mr. Davis at
http://www.InjuryTrialLawyer.com or
http://www.injurytriallawyer.com/library .