Each year, an estimated 250,000 Americans die as a result of medical errors—the term given to any effort by healthcare professionals that had a preventable adverse effect for the patient. A topic I’ve discussed in past blogs—the total number has even been reported as high…
@thumbnail.jpg "Christopher T. Nace")
Almost six months ago, I first touched on the problems of a Washington D.C. area hospital that is desperately needed to serve an otherwise isolated community. While there have been issues for some time, the seriousness of the situation came to the attention of the…
Hospitals across the country must operate in accordance with safety standards set by the federal government or else face being penalized by the Medicare payment system. Many hospitals rely on Medicare to function, and as such, this is a powerful incentive to comply with guidelines.…
While it might come as a surprise to many, doctors who face medical malpractice lawsuits—and even those who are found negligent—don’t always receive disciplinary action from state health regulators. Often, repeat offenders can still be practicing both during and after a medical malpractice lawsuit. One…
Patients deal with a host of risks whenever they enter a hospital for treatment. Hospitals have a duty by law to ensure that their facilities and practices provide a safe environment for patients. And while most safety errors are made by hospitals during or after…
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report called To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System that brought to light the issue of hospital patients dying from medical errors; at the time is was guesstimated to be as great as 98,000…
In August, United Medical Center (UMC)—a public hospital in Washington D.C.—had their obstetrics license suspended for 90 days without much explanation as to why. The local community and beyond were outraged, not only for the lack of details but also because it was the only…
Over the weekend we learned, more than two months after the fact, that Jerry Canterbury had passed away on March 15th in Hartville, Ohio at the age of 78. Considering the delay in news of his death, it might not be surprising to hear one…
A few months ago, I wrote a blog about human errors comprising one of the leading causes of death in U.S. hospitals and how many healthcare facilities called these events “nevers” (as in, they should never have happened in the first place). I think it’s important…
When an individual is injured in the process of medical treatment and suspects medical malpractice, he or she has the right to hold all responsible parties accountable for any negligence—including the hospital. That is, unless the treating physician is an independent practitioner. Historically, such…
