YourSpine.com - Chiropractic - 1/3 Of Americans May Have Experienced Medical Errors

1/3 Of Americans May Have Experienced Medical Errors

On November 17, 2004, a study reported by WebMD Medical News says that a third of Americans say that they or a family member have experienced preventable medical mistakes, many of which led to severe pain, disability and death.

The study was a national survey of more than 2000 adults conducted by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the U.S. Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and the Harvard School of Public Health.

In a 1999 Institute of Medicine report, experts claimed that medical errors cause upwards of 98,000 deaths per year. Many of those same experts have expressed concern that improvements in the system have been slow to come.

In this latest survey:
·       40% of the respondents believe that the quality of U.S. health care has declined in recent years.
·       55% said they were dissatisfied with the overall quality of their care.
·       52% of patients say they are “worried” or “somewhat worried” about the quality of health care they or their families receive.

More than 20% of those who have experienced their own or a family member’s medical errors say that the mistakes caused serious consequences.
·       16% said the mistake caused severe pain or significant lost time at work.
·       8% said the error caused death.
·       Only 17% of those surveyed said the quality of their health care has improved.

Nearly all of the patients surveyed said hospitals should be required to report medical errors and 63% said that the information should be made public.

Change Zip Code Close