Are Medical Errors on the Rise? A Look at Recent Cases and Statistics

[Evo]

My faith in doctors has really gone down recently.

My cousin just died, apparently due to the carelessness of his surgeon, or assistant. He just had a fairly routine heart bypass operation, he came out of it just fine and as he was coming out from the anaesthesia, he was joking with the nurses. They tried to sit him up, and from what we've been told, it seems the stitches in his heart weren't done correctly and popped open. This caused massive hemorrhaging with a complete loss of blood to the brain which resulted in brain death.

My boss had a routine, simple procedure 8 months ago on his shoulder. He had rotor cuff problems on his left side, and his surgeon suggested that while he was under, they might as well clean the cuff on his right side (even though he wasn't having any trouble). He developed a staff infection due to their carelessness and almost died. He now has permanent nerve damage. He cannot drive or wash, shave, brush his teeth or comb his hair. He cannot lift his arms up. His face is covered with bruises because he loses his balance and cannot stop his fall because he can't move his arms.

I know Ivan's mother has had some serious problems due to an operation.

My brother almost died due to a wrong diagnosis, if my mother hadn't gone ballistic and taken him to a different doctor, he'd be dead now.

I know doctors are only human and don't have all the answers, but it seems I am seeing more and more serious death and disabilities being caused by carelessness. I had my own problems with my former doctor "Dr Death". I got rid of him before he did major harm to me and my kids. He was completely incompetent.

Is what I am seeing unusual or are others seeing more carelessness?

 

[Lisa!]

I think my uncle's died because of stupidness of his doctor!

 

[Evo]

I think my uncle's died because of stupidness of his doctor!

What happened?

 

[Pengwuino]

Well mixed opinions here. My grandmother died due to possible negligence by the doctor. On the other hand, my aunt has an aggressive form of lung cancer and she just went through the radiology and chemo and from what I hear, its pretty much gone. Not sure htough... i'll find out though.

 

[JamesU]

This is a serious issue, because what do you do when the person you trust is untrustworthy? And if they are careless, you cannot do anything. they'll go to jail, lose their liscence, but how does that cure the suffering of a friend or family member? I have never had a serious surgery, so I haven't experienced the 'bad doctors'. But I'm sure it's a hard thig to go through

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

My grandfather died after a nurse incorrectly shoved a tube down his throat causing a huge tear and I watched him die right there.

 

[Pengwuino]

Well we put our lives in the hands of other peopel all the time. Driving around with one of my friends feels like my life is on the brink of ending every time she puts her foot on the gas. We also put our lives in construction workers hands when they install say the gas lines in our houses. We hope gas station tanks have been sealed correctly. We hope elevators work like they are suppose to... etc etc.

 

[Evo]

I'm wondering if it's because of all the insurance cutbacks. They aren't as thorough as they used to be perhaps? Cutting more corners to save a buck?

Except Dr Death was incompetant. One example - I had two seriously fractured fingers, multiple fractures, spiral fractures, pieces of bone completely broken off. I went in every couple of weeks for three months and he swore up and down that my mangled fingers were just sprained. When I threatened lawsuit, I was referred to a specialist, I handed him the x-rays. He glanced at them and pointed his pen at my fingers and asked me if I saw all the fractures and splintered bone, yep, I sure could. He could not believe that my doctor had looked at these for 3 months and couldn't see them. I require surgery now on my fingers to try to repair what they can.

 

[Evo]

Well we put our lives in the hands of other peopel all the time. Driving around with one of my friends feels like my life is on the brink of ending every time she puts her foot on the gas. We also put our lives in construction workers hands when they install say the gas lines in our houses. We hope gas station tanks have been sealed correctly. We hope elevators work like they are suppose to... etc etc.

But these people are responsible for our lives. They're supposed to help us, not hurt us. I know what they're up against, they aren't miracle workers, although they're expected to be. They can't always have an answer.

I'm talking about negligence. Outright negligence. It's scary.

 

[Evo]

My grandfather died after a nurse incorrectly shoved a tube down his throat causing a huge tear and I watched him die right there.

This is what I'm talking about.

 

[cronxeh]

Well its not just Physicians - EMTs as well as Paramedics could cause harm too, and sometimes kill a person. I am not sure if this is due to carelessness, but perhaps the doctors are just too tired.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

And the system has serious problems as well. I don't want to go into everything about my mother, but suffice it so say that the care, and really more the follow through has been a joke at times, and mom has suffered horribly for it.

 

[Lisa!]

What happened?

He could stay alive without doing that unimportant surgery on him, but the doctorinsisted that they should do it. And he died in hospital 1 week after that. Actually he didn't want to listen to his doctor, but his children almost forced him to do that.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My grandfather died after a nurse incorrectly shoved a tube down his throat causing a huge tear and I watched him die right there.

Not only a tragedy, what a horrible thing to see.

 

[Pengwuino]

Well those people can be negligent as well. Negligence in inspecting the elevator for example. Negligence when sealing the gas lines. Negligence when hooking up the gas lines to a house. We got to realize exactly how many times these people do actually screw up. Even the best doctor is going to screw up once or twice and when we're dealing with human lives, its going to have far more serious reprecussions then when the best engineer misplaces a bolt on a car door opener.

Maybe its an insurance issue however, i dunno. When i had some small sprain, the doctor quickly insisted on x-rays even though it only confirmed what we all knew already

 

[Evo]

Exactly, our doctors shouldn't be exhausted, they shouldn't be in a hurry, they shouldn't be distracted.

If my plumber breaks something because he's distracted, it can be replaced/repaired. You don't always get a second chance on a human.

I LOVE my current doctor, btw. He saved me from Dr Death.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

November 30, 1999
Medical errors kill tens of thousands annually, panel says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More people die each year in the United States from medical errors than from highway accidents, breast cancer or AIDS, a federal advisory panel reported Monday.

The report from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine cited studies showing between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year because of mistakes by medical professionals.

"That's probably an underestimate for two reasons," noted Dr. Donald Berwick of the Institute of Medicine. [continued]

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9911/29/medical.errors/

I am sure that I heard a similar report lately

 

[Pengwuino]

How do they have such a huge range ivan?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

a related topic, here's a class of problems that I've seen first hand.

http://www.simplyphysics.com/flying_objects/O2_bottle.jpg
http://www.simplyphysics.com/flying_objects/chair_3.jpg
http://www.simplyphysics.com/flying_objects.html

Back in the early 80's, as a technician, I was in fact taken off my feet and tossed across a room due to an error in the type of chairs located near an MRI.

 

[Lisa!]

My grandfather died after a nurse incorrectly shoved a tube down his throat causing a huge tear and I watched him die right there.

The same about my uncle. He was getting better after that silly operation and was talking to his daughter, a nurse came and do an injection. And after 30 minutes he died. My cousin was getting crazy!

 

[Pengwuino]

haha i have a chair like that in the 2nd pic

 

[Evo]

I forgot about the time that I was in the hospital thanks to kidney trouble caused by allergy tests gone wild.

I was 8 years old and several nurses came in and started prepping me for heart surgery. Luckily my mother walked in before they finished and stopped them, she was a bit upset.

 

[cronxeh]

Back in the early 80's, as a technician, I was in fact taken off my feet and tossed across a room due to an error in the type of chairs located near an MRI.

that just made my day

 

[Pengwuino]

I forgot about the time that I was in the hospital thanks to kidney trouble caused by allergy tests gone wild.

I was 8 years old and several nurses came in and started prepping me for heart surgery. Luckily my mother walked in before they finished and stopped them, she was a bit upset.

Dang evo, half your posts are about how sick you are/were :(

 

[Evo]

Dang evo, half your posts are about how sick you are/were :(

No, not sick, just a klutz, my dog broke my fingers and I have allergies.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I forgot about the time that I was in the hospital thanks to kidney trouble caused by allergy tests gone wild.

I was 8 years old and several nurses came in and started prepping me for heart surgery. Luckily my mother walked in before they finished and stopped them, she was a bit upset.

Had they mistaken you for another patient, or misdiagnosed you with heart trouble?

 

[Evo]

Had they mistaken you for another patient, or misdiagnosed you with heart trouble?

They had the room number wrong, the real patient was across the hall.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

that just made my day

I'm glad that you're so amused!

My arm was stuck and I couldn't let go.

Someone had placed a chair in the control room that contained iron, that was absolutely identical to the stainless chairs that were supposed to be in there. I grabbed it, slung my arm through, and carried it into the magnet room to make some adjustments. First it tugged real hard, and the next thing I knew it and I crashed into the magnet.

 

[Evo]

The same about my uncle. He was getting better after that silly operation and was talking to his daughter, a nurse came and do an injection. And after 30 minutes he died. My cousin was getting crazy!

I'm so sorry, that's terrible.

 

[Pengwuino]

No, not sick, just a klutz, my dog broke my fingers and I have allergies.

heheh aww poor evo