Preventable medical errors are the #3 cause of death in the
United States according to the Journal of Patient Safety.
The #1 cause of diagnosing errors is the physician’s failure
to consider alternative causes for the patient’s problems according to an
Internal Medicine study.
Obtaining safe healthcare should be everyone’s
business. But when preventable medical
errors are the #3 cause of death in this country, not to mention the countless
injuries caused by preventable medical errors, what are patients to do? And with a medical culture of cover-up and
lack of disclosure, patients and their families are often left in the
dark.
You can be vigilant about your care and point out the errors
you are aware of to the physicians, nurses and healthcare providers - and also
do it in writing. Healthcare facilities
have processes in place often called “peer review” which they have convinced
legislatures to keep confidential by passing laws. While this process is designed for internal
discussion of medical errors and how to keep them from happening in the future,
the patient and their families have no access to this information. By writing down the error you witness, and
insisting your written report be included in the medical record, you can at the
very least document the error and have a record of it in case this information
is needed for further proceedings with the state licensing board or future
court proceedings.
