Deadly Errors in Intensive Care
Posted by
Staff WriterFebruary 20, 2006 7:24 PMA report from the U.S. Pharmacopeia last week revealed that between 2000 and 2004, nearly 40,000 errors were reported in intensive care units around the United States, many resulting in death or serious injury or illness to the patient. Note that this study looked at "reported medical errors", which makes me wonder how many of these deadly mistakes go unreported and unknown to the families and affected patients. That's 10,000 reported errors per year. One study shows that the vast majority of medical errors, perhaps 90% go completely unreported.
According to pharmacist John Santell, who led the study:
There were actually more than 950 different medications recorded in these error reports....This tells us that there are so many different medications being used to treat a wide variety of illnesses, making it a big challenge for any doctor, nurse or pharmacist to be knowledgeable about these drugs.
It also tells us something else about how drug companies are doing a great job of marketing, distributing and promoting the use of their drugs without educating the medical practictioners responsible for administering the drugs. The U.S. Institute of Medicine estimates that nearly 100,000 people are killed by medical errors each year,
and the FDA estimates that a staggering 1.3 million Americans are injured by medication errors each year. That's one in every 250 people, not patients, injured by drug prescription errors. The study by U.S. Pharmacopeia found that the errors in their study killed more than a dozen patients and "seriously injured another" 68. And that's just in intensive care units. Often times, insurance companies will override a doctor's prescription and persuade the patient to use a cheaper drug substitute, which undoubtedly opens the door to higher risk of unanticipated or unwelcome side affects. This shocking report should help bring to light the risk of medical malpractice and errors facing patients today.