Where Are We After Two Decades Of Patient Safety Awareness?

Everyone deserves to be treated with a high standard of medical care when they seek help from a healthcare professional. However, there are times when the negligence or carelessness of a healthcare provider causes patient harm. If you need a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney, the team at The Weitz Firm, LLC is here to help.

Today, we want to focus on the last few decades of patient safety awareness and what steps have been and are being taken to protect you from medical mistakes.

What we know has happened?

A recent article in AAMC News discusses the advancements that have been made over the last two decades since the release of the report To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. When that report was released by the Institute of Medicine, it made some alarming claims about how many people were injured and killed each year due to mistakes made by medical professionals.

The AAMC News article says that “patient harm from medical errors is no longer considered inevitable.”

Is this truly the case? Have we reduced the number of people harmed due to medical negligence?

The article points out that many changes were made beginning in 1999, including:

• Congress passing legislation requiring annual reports designed to monitor progress in improving patient care.
• A Joint Commission creating National Patient Safety Goals, with a first list of standards released in 2003 and updated annually.
• A Safe Surgery Saves Lives global challenge started by the World Health Organization to reduce dangerous surgical errors.
• Major work towards reducing healthcare-acquired infections by establishing standard protocols for hospitals.

The AAMC News article says that “We have come a long way since the launch of the patient safety movement…but we must continue to look for ways to build strong connections between education, quality improvement, and clinical practice.”

We know that Johns Hopkins researchers say that medical mistakes are responsible for approximately 250,000 deaths each year in the country. This means they are the third leading cause of death. The most common causes of these injuries and fatalities are misdiagnoses, surgical mistakes, medication errors, healthcare-acquired infections, and more.

• It is vital that those responsible for medical mistakes are held accountable for the injuries they cause.

Let our team get to work for you today

We know that patient safety has come a long way, but we are far from being where we need to be. Nobody should have to suffer from the consequences of medical negligence without compensation. At The Weitz Firm, LLC, we are going to get to work on securing the compensation you need for all of your incident-related expenses. This can include:

• Compensation for all medical expenses related to the error(s)
• Coverage of lost income and benefits if you cannot work
• Loss of enjoyment of life damages
• Pain and suffering damages
• Punitive damages against the healthcare provider/agency responsible

If you need a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney, you can contact us for a free consultation by clicking here or calling 267-587-6240.