Wrongful Deaths & Other Preventable Errors In America's Hospitals

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Article Title:

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Wrongful Deaths & Other Preventable Errors In America's Hospitals

Article Description:

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Medical errors is the 7th leading cause of death in America,

ahead of motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS.

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693 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: Thu Mar 2 18:29:38 EST 2006

Written By: Landon Prescott

Copyright: 2006

Contact Email: mailto:landon.prescott@...

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Wrongful Deaths & Other Preventable Errors In America's Hospitals

Copyright © 2006 Landon Prescott

H. Silvers, A Law Corporation

http://www.michaelhsilvers.com/

In 1999 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released their stunning

findings on preventable deaths in hospitals in their report

entitled " To err is human " . The IOM went so far as to say that

preventable deaths in America's hospitals should be considered " a

national epidemic " . The IOM study found that between 44,000 and

98,000 deaths in hospitals are attributable to medical errors

each year.

This makes medical errors the 7th leading cause of death in

America, ahead of motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, and

AIDS. Another study on wrongful deaths was conducted in 2003 and

was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association

(JAMA). This study, conducted by Healthgrades, showed that from

the years 2000-2002 wrongful deaths in hospitals were actually

more than double what the IOM reported. Healthgrades study showed

that as many as 195,000 people suffer from wrongful death in

American hospitals each year.

There are a number of reasons why these wrongful deaths happen

each year in hospitals. Over worked doctors, medication errors,

and inadequate staffing all lead to tragic preventable deaths.

This has led to new rules regulating the number of hours that

medical residents can work in a week and strict enforcement of

these regulations. Medication errors have led to double and

triple checking dosages and medication interactions. Inadequate

staffing has led to hospitals being forced to close their

emergency departments when staffing is inadequate. Despite these

efforts to improve medical care, wrongful deaths still happen in

hospitals everyday.

If you are the family member of one of these victims, chances are

you do not care why this happened; you simply want justice for

your loved one. If you are counting on your insurance company to

bring justice you are wrong. The reason that the insurance

company will not help you is complex. Insurance companies are

primarily concerned about making a profit, not seeking justice.

Let us assume that you have had a family member suffer a wrongful

death in a hospital. Now if your insurance company seeks to

penalize this hospital, the insurance company risks losing their

contract with the hospital. If this happens, the insurance

company has one less place to send the people that they cover.

The insurance company also does not want to see this happen

because they are getting a discounted rate for services from this

hospital. Additionally, the insurance company can use this

preventable death case as leverage with the hospital to further

reduce the rates that they pay the hospital in future contract

negotiations. While all of this may sound cold blooded and

heartless, it is a reality.

The hospital and the physician want to quickly and quietly settle

with the victims family members in order to avoid bad press. The

hospital will do everything that it can to get the family members

to sign off on a settlement, as will your own insurance company.

This is not the justice that the victim of a wrongful death

deserves. This is why choosing a competent and experienced lawyer

is in your best interest.

While it may seem morbid to think about suing the hospital for

the wrongful death, the family members of the victim need to

think about taking care of their family financially and seeing to

it that these mistakes do not continue to happen in Americas

hospitals. Hospitals do not have incentive to change their

practices unless they are hit where it hurts…in their wallet.

When this happens, changes in the delivery of healthcare happen.

The financial compensation that an experienced competent lawyer

can bring you will help to pay for medical expenses, funeral

expenses, and will act as life insurance to assure that you and

your family can meet your future expenses. A good lawyer knows

how to get the most compensation for you and your family and

understands the complex laws surrounding wrongful death cases.

Not using a qualified lawyer will result in you not getting the

full amount of compensation that would otherwise be awarded to

you.

If you are seeking an extremely well qualified and experienced

lawyer we can help you. We will help you and your get the

compensation and justice that you deserve.

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Landon Prescott writes on topics related to insurance and health.

The term wrongful death is defined as the loss of life wrongfully

caused by another individual. If you have lost a loved one as the

result of a <a href= " http://www.michaelhsilvers.com/ " >personal injury

accident</a>, although no amount of money

can replace your loss, or properly compensate you, you need a

wrongful death attorney to represent you. H. Silvers,

A Law Corporation has 24 convenient locations in California.

http://www.michaelhsilvers.com/