According to a study published in the Archives of Surgery in 2009, the highest rate of incorrect procedures within the operating room involves ophthalmology cases.
According to research, surgical errors occur more than 4,000 times a year in the United States. A study published in the Journal of Patient Safety, suggests that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients who visit hospitals for treatment succumb to some form of preventable harm that leads to a fatal end. Not impressive but it is enlightening.
There is no question that one of the most exciting yet singularly stressful times in lives of parents are the hours, minutes and even seconds leading up to the birth of a child. That’s because most are acutely aware of everything that can go wrong during labor and delivery.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), about 600,000 LASIK vision correction procedures are performed every year in the United States. If you look at the information provided by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, LASIK eye surgery has an impressive success rate and 96% of patients achieve 20/20 vision or better after undergoing this type of surgery.
A recent study conducted with help from a New York radiologist has demonstrated that breast MRIs are susceptible to major error when they are performed while the patient is in the wrong position. The researchers say that MRIs should be done while the patient is in the supine position, also known as lying face-up, so that they can have the best opportunity for successful surgical results.
According to a report released by the CDC, traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is a major cause of disability and death and responsible for nearly 30% of all injury deaths in the United States. Each day, close to 138 people in the country meet fatal ends due to injuries that include TBI.
The medical community here in the U.S. was rocked by the recent publication of an eye-opening report in the BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal, which made some altogether astonishing findings concerning our nation’s rate of preventable medical errors.
A physician might prescribe clonidine, an antihypertensive medication, to treat high blood pressure. The medication is also used to treat children dealing with ADHD. However, a numerical error resulting in an 8-year-old Colorado boy receiving 1,000 times the appropriate dose may have contributed to his death on June 8, 2016.
According to hospital records, the minimum number of deaths caused by medical accidents is 65,000 to 200,000. 25,000 to 120,000 deaths are a result of medical negligence. 0.8% to 1% of hospital patients become victims of malpractice. 2.9% of these victims file medical malpractice claims. Of these, 1/3 of 1% medical malpractice cases go to trial and 1/10 of 1% win a trial verdict in their favor.
Although there has been a decrease in the overall number of birth injuries reported in the United States in recent decades, there is still a very high risk of it occurring.
