U.S. Hospitals Fail to Improve Patient Safety, Injure or Kill Thousands Every Day

[Guest guest]

Avoid the hospital like

the plague! Horrible

statistics!

 

U.S.

Hospitals Fail to Improve Patient Safety and Injure and Kill Thousands

Every

Day

Posted by Dr. Mercola | April 13

2010

Nearly 1

million patient-safety

incidents occurred among Medicare patients over the years 2006, 2007,

and 2008

-- the figure remained virtually unchanged since last year’s annual

study.

In all, the incidents were associated with $8.9 billion in costs.

Some of the

most common and most

serious indicators even worsened, including decubitus ulcer (bed

sores),

iatrogenic pneumothorax (collapsed lung), post-operative hip fracture,

post-operative physiologic and metabolic derangements, post-operative

pulmonary

embolism (potentially fatal blood clots forming in the lungs) or deep

vein

thrombosis (blood clots in the legs), post-operative sepsis, and

transfusion

reaction.

One

in 10 patients -- almost 100,000 people all told -- experiencing a

patient-safety incident died as a result.

Patients at

hospitals in the top 5

percent experienced 43 percent fewer patient safety incidents, on

average. If

all hospitals performed at this level, more than 218,000 patient safety

incidents and over 22,000 deaths could potentially have been avoided,

saving $2

billion over three years.

Sources:

Newswise

March

30, 2010

HealthGrades

Patient

Safety in American Hospitals Study March 2010

 

Dr.

Mercola's Comments:

I have said it before

and

I’m going to say it again now: I recommend avoiding hospitals whenever

practically possible as they are one of the most unhealthy environments

to be

in.

About the only

time they are

appropriate is to recover from the results of unexpected accidental

traumas or

repair surgical emergencies like appendicitis.

Unfortunately,

it is becoming all

too common for people to go into the hospital for a “routine” surgery

or medical procedure, only to contract a severe hospital-acquired

infection or

succumb to an adverse drug reaction or other medication mishap.

According to

the latest study,

“patient safety incidents,” which is a nice way of saying

“preventable medical mistakes,” are common in U.S.

hospitals.

In all, over the years 2006-2008, there were nearly 1 million incidents

among

Medicare patients, and one in 10 of them were deadly.

What Does the

Most Expensive

Health Care System in the World Get You?

40,000 medical

mistakes a day

…

That’s right.

The HealthGrades

report pointed out that “the incidence rate of medical harm occurring

is

estimated to be over

40,000 each and EVERY day according to the

Institute for

Healthcare Improvement!”

Most people,

including most health

care professionals, simply do not understand that hospitals account for

over ONE-THIRD of the $2.5 trillion the United States

spends for

"health care." This is TRIPLE what we surrender to drug

companies.

It would not be

so bad if we

actually received major benefits for this investment, but, as this

report --

and others -- illustrate, this frequently is not the case.

Ten years ago,

Professor Bruce

Pomerance of the University

of Toronto concluded that

properly prescribed and

correctly taken pharmaceutical drugs were the fourth leading cause of

death in North America.

More recently, Johns Hopkins Medical

School

refined this research and discovered that medical errors and

prescription drugs

may actually be the

LEADING

cause of death, outpacing cancer (which is now our deadliest

disease).

Your Health May

Not be Safe

in the Hands of the U.S.

Medical Care System

The U.S.

health system is in a

continual downward spiral -- something I’ve been warning people about

for

more than two decades -- and despite the ever-increasing amounts of

money

invested, your chances of achieving optimal health through it are only

getting

worse.

The U.S.

now ranks

LAST

out of 19 countries for unnecessary deaths

-- deaths that could have been avoided through timely and effective

medical

care. Additionally, one-third of adults with health problems reported

mistakes

in their care in 2007, and rates of visits to physicians or emergency

departments for adverse drug effects increased by one-third between

2001 and

2004.

In the United States,

more than 2 million

people are affected by hospital-acquired

infections every year as well, and 100,000 people die as a result.

In essence,

what we have here is a

trend of health care costs rising, mistakes increasing, and

pharmaceutical

drug-induced side effects and deaths skyrocketing.

If You Must Go

Into a

Hospital, Do Your Homework …

In the event

that you must go to a

hospital, you should know that all are not created equal.

The

HealthGrades 2010 report found

major discrepancies between the hospitals at the top of the list and

those at

the bottom:

 

“Patients at

hospitals in the

top 5% -- 2010 HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™ recipients

-- experienced 43% fewer patient safety incidents, on average, compared

to

poorly performing hospitals. If all hospitals performed at this level,

218,572 patient

safety incidents and 22,590 deaths could potentially have been avoided,

saving

$2.0 billion from 2006 through 2008.”

You can find patient-safety ratings at

hospitals across the United States from the HealthGrades Web site.

Likewise,

deaths attributed to

medication errors rise by as much as 25 percent above normal in the first

few

days of every month, because there often isn't enough staff to

handle

the beginning-of-the-month spike in prescriptions. Being

admitted

on a Friday has also been linked to longer hospital stays,

so if you can time your stay to avoid these periods, so much the better.

How to Avoid

Becoming a

Statistic

This article

will hopefully serve as

yet another major wake-up call, providing solid evidence that the

conventional

health care system is desperately in need of radical change.

You need to

know that you CAN Take

Control of Your Health. The first step is to follow my free

comprehensive

online recommendations. If you would like more details you

can review

my

book. These tools will help you to reduce your reliance on the

broken

health care system in the United States.

The guidelines

that follow are more

basic strategies to live by; strategies that will boost your health and

well-being naturally to keep you OUT of the hospital and enjoying life!

1.

Address

your

emotional traumas and manage

your

stress

2.

Get

optimal

exposure to sunlight or a safe tanning bed or take oral vitamin D

if this is not possible

3.

Drink

plenty

of clean water

4.

Limit

your exposure

to

toxins

5.

Consume

healthy

fat

6.

Eat

a healthy diet

that’s right for your nutritional

type (paying very careful attention to keeping your insulin levels

down)

7.

Eat

plenty of raw

food

8.

Optimize

your

insulin

and leptin

levels

9.

Exercise

10.

Get

plenty

of good sleep