Fw: New Rules on Hospitals' Mistakes

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From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 2:15 AM

Subject: New Rules on Hospitals' Mistakes

> EXCERPT:

>

> " Congressional figures show medication errors - missed dosages, double

> dosages, and dangerous mixes - are believed to kill or injure 777,000

> people each year. "

>

> http://dailynews./h/ap/20010627/bs/hospitals__mistakes_1.html

>

>

> New Rules on Hospitals' Mistakes

>

> By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

>

> CHICAGO (AP) - Hospitals will be required to tell patients when they've

> been victims of medical errors under safety standards that take effect

> Sunday.

>

> The rule is the first of its kind from the Joint Commission on

> Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, a nonprofit group that monitors

> nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide.

>

> The commission acted partly in response to a 1999 Institute of Medicine

> (news - web sites) report estimating that medical errors kill 44,000 to

> 98,000 hospital patients each year.

>

> Under the guidelines, hospitals that don't discuss harmful mistakes with

> patients and fail to prove to commission investigators that they're doing

> so will risk losing their accreditation.

>

> ``We need to create a culture of safety in hospitals and other health care

> organizations, in which errors are openly discussed and studied so that

> solutions can be found and put in place,'' said Dr. Dennis O'Leary, the

> commission's president.

>

> Some hospitals, including the nation's Veterans Affairs facilities,

already

> tell patients when errors occur. Others may keep quiet to avoid potential

> lawsuits, said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, co-founder of Public Citizen Health

> Research Group, a consumer-oriented advocacy group.

>

> He said research showed that hospitals that were honest with patients

about

> mistakes faced fewer lawsuits.

>

> ``People don't like to get jerked around,'' Wolfe said. ``Part of the

> understandable anger that accompanies a lawsuit is the idea that something

> bad happened to me and they didn't tell me.''

>

> Rick Hendrick, a Chicago contractor who was given the wrong medicine in a

> hospital emergency room, agrees.

>

> Hendrick, 47, said the hospital should have ``come to me and said, 'This

is

> what happened. I'm sorry, we made a terrible mistake' and had warned him

of

> the side effects.

>

> Instead, he says, hospital staff never admitted that they'd given him a

big

> dose of an antibiotic destined for another patient. Hendrick, who had

> sought treatment for a bad case of hives, said he had severe heart

> palpitations, nearly passed out and was weak for several days from the

drug.

>

> Dr. Don Nielsen of the American Hospital Association said the new

standards

> echo AHA policy for its members - about 5,000 hospitals and health care

> systems nationwide.

>

> AHA policy even goes further, advising hospitals to tell patients about

> mistakes that don't cause any harm, Nielsen said.

>

> In Congress some legislators are calling for nearly $1 billion to help

> hospitals and technology companies invest in devices to avoid more deaths

> and injuries. Congressional figures show medication errors - missed

> dosages, double dosages, and dangerous mixes - are believed to kill or

> injure 777,000 people each year.

>

>

>

>