Medical Error Costs Continue to Plague Health Care System

May 19, 2011

Irony has hit the health care system. While its goal is to safely heal injuries and diseases, the U.S. healthcare system has created an epidemic of medical errors. Recent studies reveal the physical and financial toll these medical mistakes continue to take on the quality of patient care. While medical malpractice reforms have attempted to curb the damages patients may recover after an injury caused by medical negligence, the health care system still suffers from a lack of incentive for doctors and hospitals to impose and adhere to stricter safety measures. In the meantime, the proof is in the numbers.

Medical Error Epidemic

Medical errors, or adverse medical events, are often preventable and caused by negligence. Patients go to the hospital for help and suffer further injury -- or even death -- because of unrelated medical issues caused by a breach in the standard of care.

Medical mistakes happen most often during routine, and not complex, medical procedures. Among many other medical errors, medical professionals perform incorrect surgeries, fail to remove surgical sponges or tools from patients, prescribe the wrong medication dosage, or allow patients to develop bedsores or infections during a hospital stay.

According to one recent study, the risk of death from an adverse medical event is 1 in 200, and 187,000 deaths -- as well as 6.1 million injuries -- occur annually.

Significant Costs

Medical errors not only physically injure or kill unsuspecting patients, but they also take a financial toll on the whole health care system. While various sources cite $17 billion as the yearly estimated cost of medical malpractice mistakes, one study published recently in Health Affairs also looked at the social costs of medical errors. According to the study, social costs are what patients in the U.S. spend trying to avoid the risk of death or injury due to medical errors. These costs reach as much as $958 billion annually, which is almost half of the total amount spent for healthcare in the U.S. in 2008.

Impact of Reforms

In addition to dealing with social costs, patients are also subject to medical malpractice reform legislation and laws that seek to limit malpractice damage awards. While the goal of these reforms is to ultimately reduce health care system costs, critics point to studies that show these laws only work in the short term and sometimes only to lower insurance premiums for physicians and hospitals. Other studies show that medical malpractice costs account for less than one percent of the total costs of the health care system in the U.S., so putting caps on damages only hurts victims of medical malpractice.

More Safety Measures

While some researchers suggest that hospitals institute a no-fault compensation system as an alternative to medical malpractice litigation, what really needs to occur are more incentives for doctors and hospitals to impose and adhere to stricter safety measures that work to prevent medical errors. Patients should not have to suffer from medical negligence. Furthermore, the actual and social costs of running the U.S. health care system should not be so outrageous.

If you believe you are a victim of a medical error, contact a medical malpractice attorney today to discuss your rights and options for compensation and how current health care legislation and costs might directly impact your case.

Article provided by Mishkind Law Firm Co., L.P.A.
Visit us at www.mishkindlaw.com