Some 45 percent of specialists reported that a medical error had occurred in their practice in the past six months, according to a national survey. Researchers sent out the brief, anonymous survey to 2,500 members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology (head and neck surgery), of which they received 466 responses. About 37 percent of the reported errors, which affected both children and adults, caused major harm or injury. Four percent of the errors were fatal.
The otolaryngologist who led the survey pointed out that he had first-hand experience with medical errors. He described a near-miss in which a patient was about to receive a cochlear implant, and, upon closer inspection of the CT scan and an MRI, realized that the person had no auditory nerves on either side. This meant that a major device would have been surgically implanted in a child's head when there was no possibility of benefit. The error? The initial scan was not looked at carefully.
The reported errors were classified into the following categories:
It was noted that younger physicians were more likely than physicians over age 50 to report errors (approximately 60 versus 40 percent). Other errors reported in the survey included:
Researchers say that the number of doctors reporting medical errors--45 percent--is an underestimate. They suggest that doctors, who are likely not trained to recognize errors, may recall serious errors but overlook minor ones.
Laryngoscope August 2004;114(8):1322-1335
EurekAlert August 3, 2004
I posted this article not to point out that individual doctors are making errors--this is only a small part of a much bigger problem. Rather, I posted this article to say that the entire modern health care system is to blame for allowing, even promoting, so many unnecessary procedures, drugs and mishaps.
This also happens to be precisely why the system is so desperately in need of change, and why facilitating this change is, and will continue to be, such a substantial portion of my vision. For more on the state of medical errors in the United States, I encourage you to read this article: Modern Health Care System is the Leading Cause of Death.
There are still many lessons to be learned before the traditional medical community will be functioning at the level it should be--a level that addresses the health of a person before they get sick and instills the necessary means to prevent disease, rather than the means to treat disease with drugs and surgery, as the foremost basis of its philosophy.
I do believe that the health care system in our country is on its way to a brighter future, however. If you would like to help in this transformation right now, I encourage you to forward any of the articles on this site (just use the E-mail to a Friend link in the upper right corner) that you find valuable on to your friends and family.
We are making great strides, and we are changing the currently devastated system, one person at a time.
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