U.S. HOSPITAL ERRORS KEEP RISING

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A new study of healthcare ratings increases the number of medical errors leading to "patient safety incidents" from 1.14 million to 1.24 million over successive three year periods. The financial effect of these errors was calculated as $9.3 billion in excess costs. This HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals study also found that 250,246 (of the 304,702 deaths following at least one patient safety incident) were preventable. The chance of dying during their hospitalization, among Medicare patients who were victims of at least one safety incident, was 1-in-4. The most common safety incidents were bedsores, post-operative sepsis and failure to rescue a patient after a complication. But don't worry, I'm sure Senator Frist will admit these frightening numbers when he proposes his Medical Malpractice Immunity bill. Yeah, right.