Medical errors kill over 100,000 every year

Dr. William Douglass writes:

By now, you know that hospitals are some of the most dangerous places on earth. The diseases you can catch there are scary enough, but they're not the only thing to be afraid of. No, there's something much more deadly lurking in the halls.

In 1999, a report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) claimed that nearly 98,000 people die each year as a result of completely preventable medical errors. Ten years later, things have only gotten worse. The latest report by the Consumers Union claims that medical errors are causing more preventable deaths than ever -- over 100,000 each year.

That makes over a million preventable deaths in the last 10 years.

These types of gruesome statistics aren't the least bit surprising. The huge, impersonal health care system is capable of swallowing patients whole and losing them in an increasingly vast shuffle.

The worst part about this whole thing is that these medical errors are usually not the grandiose kinds that make the headlines, such as surgeons removing or transplanting the wrong organs. It's easily preventable things like wrong prescriptions, improper dosages, and poorly administered treatments.

Not long ago, I wrote about a study published in the medical journal Quality and Safety in Health Care that detailed deadly medical errors that occurred in doctor's offices -- before patients even made it to the hospital! The study showed that 82 percent of the errors were caused by so-called "system malfunctions." One patient died because a message was not delivered on time.

As disturbing as this is, I shudder to think about how much worse they're likely to get when the health care system is hijacked by Obama's bureaucrats.

Try to name just one thing that's run better after it's been taking over by a government bureaucracy.

Besides, the Obama Administration has bungled the takeover of the U.S. auto industry. Why should we trust them to do any better with health care?

The government has already poured a staggering $19 billion into health care information technologies like electronic prescription systems. The theory is that such systems will help to eliminate all medical errors which stem from unintentional drug interactions -- even to clear up the confusion that can be caused by illegibly written prescriptions.

In the end, no matter what precaution Uncle Sam puts in place, the best way to keep yourself as safe as possible from these kinds of errors is to take more control of your own health care. If it's at all possible, choose a small family practice as your primary care provider instead of a medical mega-plex. You're much less likely to get lost in the shuffle that way. Don't be afraid to ask questions or get a second opinion -- or even a third, for that matter. You can't be too careful these days.

All you have to do is look right here at home, at the V.A., and Medicaid, and at Massachusetts's failed attempt to reform and provide health care with government involvement, you will see one big failure.

We do need to fix the problem but, we do not need more of this.