Medical Errors and Patient Safety

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Medical Errors and Patient Safety

• 44 E. Mifflin St., Suite 103
• Madison, WI 53703
• 608-257-5741
• www.watl.org

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Today 40 of Americans say the quality of health
care has gotten worse over the past five years.
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We need Health Care Reform

• Health-care premiums have soared almost 60 in
  the last 4 years.
• Wisconsin workers have seen premiums rise 49,
  while wages have crept up only 12.2.
• We now have 45 million uninsured Americans
• Each day more than one jumbo jet full of people
  die as a result of medical errors thats as many
  as 195,000 Americans annually.

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The reason?
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According to the insurance industry its

• Frivolous Malpractice Lawsuits

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Their solution

• Attack patients rights and limit injured
  patients and their families right to hold bad
  medical professionals accountable

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The real facts

• Malpractice costs account for only 40 cents out
  of every 100 spent on Wisconsin healthcare.
• From September 1990 through December 2002, an
  average of only 101 people per year in Wisconsin
  received compensation for injuries caused by
  medical negligence, ranking 49th of the 50states.

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With such low costs, the medical industry has
invented a new cost black hole

• Defensive Medicine

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The facts

• some defensive medicine is good medicine
• managed care discourages bad defensive medicine
• doctors do defensive medicine because they make
  money from defensive medicine.

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The real issue

• How do we lift the quality of medical care and
  reduce serious medical errors and thus
  malpractice claims?

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Hidden Epidemic

• Problem of Massive Proportions

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As many as 195,000 Americans may die in hospitals
due to medical errors

• 6th leading cause of death in the US
• More than the death toll from automobile deaths,
  AIDS, or breast cancer
• 1 jumbo jet crash a day

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What causes medical errors?

• Surgical errors
• Improper medications
• Mix-up in patient identities
• Wrong diagnosis
• Delay in Treatment
• Object left inside a patient during surgery

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Children, in particular, are at risk of losing
their lives due to medical errors.

• An estimated 4,000 children die each year because
  of medical errors

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The public cost of medical errors

• 17 - 29 billion each year

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Barriers to Patient Safety

• Understaffing
• Poor Monitoring
• Repeat Offenders
• Doctors rarely admit mistakes
• Weak Medical Discipline System
• Artificial limitations on compensation for harm

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How do we restore patient safety and
accountability?

• Individual vigilance and advocacy.
• Shine sunlight on problems.
• Sufficient staffing and adoption of programs to
  prevent medical errors.
• Wake up the disciplinary watchdog.
• Protect your right to your day in court.
• Let juries, not legislators, decide what injured
  families should recover.

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Medical errors are the elephant in the room that
no one wants to acknowledge or talk about
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Conclusion

• Medical errors harm our citizens
• Medical errors are preventable
• The public must police the medical profession, if
  the medical profession wont police itself
• Closing the courthouse doors rewards bad conduct
• We need to hold bad medical professionals
  accountable
• Real reform regulates the insurance industry,
  HMOs and corporations and benefits, doctors,
  small businesses and individuals

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Demand your right to patient safety