Hearst Newspapers led with an article today called “Health care bills sidestep medical errors issue,” noting that the entire issue of medical errors is avoided in the health care bills.
“In August, a national Hearst investigation, Dead by Mistake, concluded that up to 200,000 people per year die from medical errors and infections in the United States. It also pointed out that 10 years after a landmark federal study, To Err Is Human, first highlighted the problem, many of the solutions the study proposed have not been adopted. The entire Hearst report can be found at www.DeadbyMistake.com”
While some would rather focus on limiting the legal rights of injured patients, over 98,000 people die every year from preventable medical errors with countless more injured. Tort law changes would only save 0.5% of all health care costs, and leave injured patients with practically no legal recourse. But reducing medical errors means healthier patients and lower costs.
AAJ has created a series of reports examining the role of medical negligence in the health care debate. Visit www.justice.org/medicalnegligence to learn more (the reports can be found on the right-hand side of the page).
Comments for this article are closed.