Why you can never trust your doctor again

[Guest guest]

WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU

E-news broadcast - 7 July 2006

Why you can never trust your doctor again

(and why you have to take responsibility for your own health)

Read on for the good news: becoming informed couldn?t be easier

You can never blindly follow the advice of doctors ever again, new

government health figures released this week reveal. Doctors and

medicine have become such a blunderland that it's sensible for every

patient to learn more about health and medicine as an insurance policy.

From now on, only the informed patient is a safe patient. (And we've

great news for anyone who wants to protect themselves through knowledge,

because it couldn?t be easier).

According to figures released by the government (UK) this week, there are:

940,000 recorded 'accidents' every year by doctors and hospitals in the

UK*

300,000 hospital-acquired infections every year in UK hospitals

250,000 serious adverse reactions to a pharmaceutical drug reported

every year in the UK**

* This is a conservative estimate, and government officials accept the

figure is more likely to be 1,190,000

** This is a very conservative estimate, and is based only on reported

reactions. A truer figure is believed to be closer to 1,200,000 every

year, according to officials.

2.69m Britons and 13.45m Americans harmed every year

This means that up to 2,690,000 people are being harmed by medical

mishaps every year, which represents around 4.5 per cent of the entire

population. In the USA, where medicine is even more aggressive, the

problem could be affecting up to 13,450,000 people every year.

It's a recognized fact that there is a massive under-reporting of

mistakes ? usually because of fears of litigation ? but government

officials were shocked to hear that nobody knows how many of the

reported blunders end in the death of the patient. Only 1 in 4

hospitals ?owns up? to the patient when something goes wrong; the rest

blame it on the disease itself, while just 1 in 25 drug reactions is

ever reported.

1 in 10 admitted to hospital will be a victim of a medical blunder

As it is, 1 in 10 people admitted to a hospital in Britain every year

will suffer a mishap or accident that will harm him, said Leigh,

chairman of the Commons Public Accounts committee, which was presented

with the shocking figures this week. And this is based on the known,

reported accidents.

" These figures would be terrifying enough without our learning that

there is undoubtedly substantial under-reporting if serious incidents

and deaths. To top it all, the NHS simply has no idea how many people

die each year from patient safety incidents, " said Mr Leigh.

Worse, Mr Leigh and his committee members have discovered that the

situation is not getting any better. Doctors and hospital staff are

not learning from the mistakes, but are merely repeating them every

year. Guidelines are being consistently ignored, and safety

recommendations are not being implemented.

Instead, doctors are turning a blind eye to the problem, probably

because they either face legal action from the patient's family, or

disciplinary action from the General Medical Council.

Patients have nowhere to turn, and it can be extremely difficult to

prove a case of medical malpractice when hospitals and doctors

constantly deny there has been a problem. As it is, the National

Patient Safety Agency says it is receiving 55,000 calls a month from

people saying they were victims of a medical accident, and who don?t

know where else to turn.

Regards,