Claims of fatal medical mistakes are not exaggerated; researchers continue to warn of the serious problem of deadly errors made by health care professionals.
Controversy surrounds a tweet published by noted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson this week, as he responded to the active shooting tragedies in both Texas and Ohio this past weekend. See, “Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Tweet on Mass Shooting Deaths Strikes a Nerve,” written by Nancy Coleman and published by the New York Times on August 5, 2019. Dr. Tyson has apologized to those who found his comments insensitive for various reasons.
Specifically, Dr. Tyson stated on his Twitter account that medical errors are the source of a great number of deaths in this country; in fact, medical errors were at the top of his list.
Here is his complete August 4, 2019 tweet:
In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings. On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose…
500 to Medical errors
300 to the Flu
250 to Suicide
200 to Car Accidents
40 to Homicide via Handgun
Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.
We’ve discussed the dangers of medical errors before. The reality is that mistakes made by health care professionals are a serious problem in this country. The risk is high that a patient will die because of an error made by his or her doctor, nurse, or care provider.
For more, read:
- Danger of Dying from Medical Error: Patient Safety and Preventable Malpractice Deaths
- Medical Error Cause of Patient Death: the Malpractice Epidemic.
This is not news to those who deal with the tragic consequences of medical malpractice. Three years ago, we shared the letter sent by a group of physicians including Martin A. Makary M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., Professor of Surgery and Health Policy & Management of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, asking the CDC to include and recognize Medical Errors as the Third Leading Cause of Death on its list of most common causes of death in this country.
Nevertheless, some media coverage of Dr. Tyson’s social media comment has suggested that his numbers are wrong. There are suggestions that medical mistakes are not that serious or fatal, at least not as much as the astrophysicist reported in his tweet. The New York Times article, for instance, questions his accuracy because he failed to provide “a source or time period for the numbers he cited or his methodology for arriving at the averages” in his tweet.
Medical Errors Killing People Daily
The reality is that malpractice is causing people to die in Indiana and Illinois and medical mistakes are one of the main causes of death in this country.
Medical errors are preventable accidents killing an unacceptable number of people who have entrusted their lives to their doctors, physicians, nurses, hospital staff, and health care professionals.
We have discussed past research findings on the epidemic levels of medical malpractice in this country before. Within the past few months, even more have been released that confirm the vast problem of fatal medical mistakes. Debate continues on which mistakes cause the most harm.
Consider the following:
- Multiple Causes of Medical Errors
In an article published on July 28, 2019, by MarketWatch, a new research study in the medical journal BMJ is discussed, where researchers explain that there are multiple causes of serious and fatal injuries caused by medical errors.
Key here, the description of the current state of the medical industry as being in an “awkward phase at the moment,” with “… under-trained and burned-out providers along with understaffed services…” being a factor here.
Read this July 2019 study online: Panagioti, Maria, et al. “Prevalence, severity, and nature of preventable patient harm across medical care settings: systematic review and meta-analysis.” bmj 366 (2019): l4185.
- Diagnosis mistakes (Misdiagnosis as Medical Error)
A recent research study printed in the medical journal Diagnosis has been discussed in an article published in Medical News Today on July 22, 2019, entitled, “Misdiagnosis of the ‘big three’ results in ‘serious harm.”
In this recent study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine explain that diagnosis errors may be the most common type of medical error today. They estimate that as many as 80,000 people die each year because of misdiagnosis.
- Hospital Medication Errors
A few months ago, another new research study was released which pointed to errors in the dispensing of drugs and medications in hospital settings as a major cause of fatal medical errors.
This analysis comes from the watchdogs at the Leapfrog Group, as their annual report on Medication Safety. From data obtained at 2000+ hospitals across the country, the researchers found that the most common mistake that is made in hospitals is giving a patient the wrong medication.
From their news release comes the comforting news that now only 56% of hospitals are FAILING to use best practices in the administration of medication in their facilities, which is a better result than the previous year when only 26.5% of hospitals followed medication administration best practices to avoid these types of medical mistakes.
Read the complete Leapfrog Group 2019 Report on Medication Safety online. Read about a horrific example of how easily someone can die from a medication mistake in our discussion which included the excutiating death of a 75-year-old patient given Vecuronium instead of Versed.
Deadly Medical Mistakes: Victims of Medical Errors (Malpractice)
Medical malpractice in both Indiana and Illinois is causing the deaths of patient-victims in all sorts of ways, from medication errors involving the wrong dosage, to giving someone the wrong drug, to having a doctor misdiagnose the patient or a physician making an error when giving instructions regarding treatment.
Dr. Tyson has not changed his stance on medical errors. Today, while researchers may focus upon various kinds of medical errors that result in the death of a patient, the truth is that medical malpractice is rampant.
Victims of serious and fatal medical mistakes may be able to seek justice under the medical malpractice laws of Indiana and Illinois. Sadly, these claims for justice may be sought by grieving loved ones after the medical mistake has already taken the life of the patient-victim.
Medical errors can be deadly. Anyone seeking medical treatment in Indiana and Illinois must understand these dangers. Please be careful out there!
