Ummm, that would be medical errors. Yes, I know, almost too hard to believe here in 2014. We’ve put a man on the moon, right? One would think we could at least reduce these errors to a point of reasonableness, not forgetting that if you are still the one who falls through the cracks, it is still unacceptable. But we are nowhere near that. These are not cracks. These are big wide gaping holes.
From this very disturbing essay we read:
“Lack of patient safety knowledge isn’t the problem. Yet rarely do our laws focus on implementing what we already know. For the past 30 years, policy proposals in the area of medical malpractice have concentrated almost entirely on the “doctor as victim” narrative. The insurance and medical lobbies have effectively turned the malpractice issue on its head, so that policymakers treat medical malpractice primarily as if doctors and their insurers were the victims of it, instead of the hundreds of thousands of patients who wind up dead or injured each year. This is well-reflected in the number of medical malpractice laws that have passed around the country, virtually all of which are designed to weaken the liability and accountability of health care providers. No wonder medical errors continue at epidemic levels.”
We need to wake up.
