Deadly errors - goodnews - medical malpractice - Brief Article

Better Nutrition, May, 2003

Worried about breast cancer, AIDS or fatal traffic accidents? Maybe you should be more concerned about your medical treatment.

A new study has reported that one in every five hospital patients experienced adverse events--due to inadequate follow-up medical care--after leaving the hospital and returning home.

In fact, medical errors in the United States account for more deaths than breast cancer, AIDS or highway accidents combined.

Prescription drugs accounted for the most problems after discharge, affecting 66 percent of the 400 patients involved in the study.

Antibiotics were responsible for 38 percent of the problems, corticosteroids (used in hormone replacement therapy) for 16 percent, cardiovascular drugs for 16 percent and pain relievers for 10 percent. Three percent of patients suffered permanent disabilities.

If doctors performed more thorough examinations of patients while the patients were still in the hospital, monitored their patients more closely after their release, and informed them of possible drug side effects and interactions, many of these post-discharge problems could be avoided, said the researchers.

Results of the study were published in the February 4, 2003 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.