Martha Deed Reviews Questioning Protocol
Unless we die in a natural disaster or instantly from a man-made catastrophe (car crash, airplane explosion), we all someday will be patients. This rather obvious truth is one most people seem to wish into some dark unreachable mental cavern, not to be exhumed until the time comes. And then, there is shocked surprise and dismay as all too often the healthcare we utilize fails, as the business community says, to meet expectations.
People who might have lived suffer painful, preventable deaths. People emerge from the hospital cured of their disease on admission, become damaged survivors of preventable error. Numerous government-funded studies have demonstrated that approximately 25% of all hospital admitted patients suffer from fatal or significant medical error.
E.g. Daniel R. Levinson. 2010. Adverse Events In Hospitals: National Incidence Among Medicare Beneficiaries. Dept. Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General. oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-06-09-000...
We pay for these studies, but we do not know about these studies.
It took John James, PhD, the parent of a child who died a preventable death in 2002, to recalibrate the human costs: In 1999, the report of 98,000 preventable deaths each year from medical error was shocking. We now know the figure is more like 210,000 – 440,000 deaths/year. Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States. His numbers are undisputed.
John James. 2013. A New Evidence-based Estimate of Patient Harms. Journal of Patient Safety.http://journals.lww.com/journalpatien...
It took Lenore Alexander to spearhead regulations in California to mandate post-surgery oxygen monitors after her daughter suffocated due to the lack of pediatric post-surgery monitoring. Her battle is not yet won.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertszc...
It took Helen Haskell to push legislation in South Carolina mandating that all hospital staff wear badges with their name and job title when working with patients after her son bled to death post-surgery because his care was overseen by students when she had requested (and thought she had obtained) the expertise of an attending physician to evaluate the son who was deteriorating in front of her.
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess116_2...
While it is true that here and there medical professionals are attempting to fix the system, it is also true that when a loved one needs the hospital, each of us finds ourselves operating in isolation in an alien culture. It is disturbing. More to the point, it is dangerous.
The challenge patients and their family advocates face is to learn the hospital culture fast enough to save the patient.
http://sporkworld.tumblr.com/post/104698156846/book-review-questioning-protocol-by-randi
