More than 1 in 3 surgical patients has complications, study finds, and many are the result of medical errors
CNNCNN — Despite decades of calls for more attention to patient safety in hospitals, people undergoing surgery still have high rates of complications and medical errors, a new study finds. But the latest study, which was published Thursday in the BMJ, fits into a pattern of evidence going back decades, suggesting that hospitals haven’t made much progress on patient safety. “It’s pretty disturbing,” said Helen Haskell, an expert who became a reluctant patient safety advocate after her son, Lewis Blackman, died at the age of 15 following complications from surgery to correct a condition called pectus excavatum, or a sunken chest. “These are longstanding issues that are not really being properly addressed, because I think they’re not as high in the consciousness of either patients or health care providers as they should be,” she said.
History of this topic
NHS urged to back plan to help patients harmed by mistakes
The Independent
A Doctor Confronts Medical Errors — And Flaws In The System That Create Mistakes
NPRDiscover Related
)
