Can Hospitals Prevent Medical Malpractice By Following The Aviation Industry?
Can the medical profession learn from the aviation industry? A recent book says that not only is this possible, but it is also highly desirable. In Beyond the Checklist, What Else Health Care Can Learn from Aviation Teamwork and Safety, the authors discuss the aviation industry's response to disasters caused by human error and show how things could change by adapting the safety procedures required for flying an airplane to the needs of doctors, hospitals, clinics and most importantly, patients.
Post-Surgery Patients Can Expect Up To 5 Patient Care Errors
A two-year-study of post-surgery patients at an urban teaching hospital found that any given patient can expect to be the victim of four or five medical mistakes. Of those mistakes, about half of them will result in some sort of harm to that patient.
$6 Million Medical Malpractice Verdict For York Cardiac Patient
Fifty-three year old Sherrie Burkhardt died of internal bleeding while a patient in the intensive care unit (ICU) at York Hospital. Burkhardt had arrived at the hospital's emergency room by ambulance just two days prior after complaining of having chest pains for the last three days.
Three-Step Approach To Limiting Fatal Blood Infections In Kids
As many as 250,000 patients suffer from central line infections each year, a preventable form of medical negligence. As many as 62,500 of those central line infections are fatal. According to a recent study published by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, a three-step approach to central line care may drastically cut down the number of annual central line infections.
Missed Colorectal Cancer Diagnoses Becoming More Frequent
Typically, colorectal cancer is associated with adults age 50 and over. But the affected age group is changing; younger and younger people are finding themselves battling undiagnosed colorectal cancer.
Undiagnosed Latex Allergy Turns Fatal Post-Surgery
A 29-year-old woman never returned home from the hospital after having a hysterectomy. She had an undiagnosed latex allergy that, four days following her surgery, took her life. She made it through the surgical procedure successfully, but complained of itching and nausea afterward and had visible red blisters on her lips. Her condition quickly went downhill following surgery.
Sleep Apnea Surgery Ends In Brain Injury For 11-Month-Old
Within a year of his birth, a Pennsylvania newborn underwent surgery to correct his sleep apnea. Tests had indicated that he was suffering around 50 sleep-apnea-episodes per hour, leading to low blood oxygen and threatening his life.
Sleepy Surgeons-In-Training Operating While Legally 'Drunk'
A small study of Boston-area orthopedic surgical residents found that, on average, each resident was operating on about five and a half hours of sleep each night. The result of this lack of a sleep is that during working hours, the surgeons were impaired by fatigue, to the point that their impairments were the equivalent of being legally drunk.
Delayed C-Section Leads To Birth Injury, Cerebral Palsy
In 2008, Victoria Upsey was a patient at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center. She was there to deliver her baby, now a 3-year-old boy. But, the delivery did not go smoothly. An initial ultrasound performed by her obstetrician did not reveal a fetal heartbeat and she was informed that her baby had died in the womb.
