Rules set for medical-error reporting



Hospitals will be required to tell patients about mistakes



http://www.msnbc.com/news/593502.asp?0si=-



ASSOCIATED PRESS



CHICAGO, June 27, 2001 ­ Hospitals will be required to tell 
patients when they1ve been victims of medical errors under safety 
standards that take effect Sunday.

  	  	 		

We need to create a culture of safety in hospitals and other health 
care organizations, in which errors are openly discussed and studied 
so that solutions can be found and put in place.1 

­ DR. DENNIS O'LEARY



Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare 
Organizations THE RULE is the first of its kind from the Joint 
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, a 
nonprofit group that monitors nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide.



 The commission acted partly in response to a 1999 Institute of 
Medicine report estimating that medical errors kill 44,000 to 
98,000 hospital patients each year.



 Under the guidelines, hospitals that don1t discuss harmful 
mistakes with patients and fail to prove to commission 
investigators that they1re doing so will risk losing their 
accreditation.



 3We need to create a culture of safety in hospitals and other 
health care organizations, in which errors are openly discussed and 
studied so that solutions can be found and put in place,2 said Dr. 
Dennis O1Leary, the commission1s president.



 Some hospitals, including the nation1s Veterans Affairs 
facilities, already tell patients when errors occur. Others may keep 
quiet to avoid potential lawsuits, said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, co-founder 
of Public Citizen Health Research Group, a consumer-oriented 
advocacy group.

       

HONESTY MEANS FEWER LAWSUITS



 He said research showed that hospitals that were honest with 
patients about mistakes faced fewer lawsuits.



 3People don1t like to get jerked around,2 Wolfe said. 3Part of the 
understandable anger that accompanies a lawsuit is the idea that 
something bad happened to me and they didn1t tell me.2 	



 Rick Hendrick, a Chicago contractor who was given the wrong 
medicine in a hospital emergency room, agrees.



 Hendrick, 47, said the hospital should have 3come to me and said, 
ėThis is what happened. I1m sorry, we made a terrible mistake1 and 
had warned him of the side effects.



 Instead, he says, hospital staff never admitted that they1d given 
him a big dose of an antibiotic destined for another patient. 
Hendrick, who had sought treatment for a bad case of hives, said he 
had severe heart palpitations, nearly passed out and was weak for 
several days from the drug. 	



  Dr. Don Nielsen of the American Hospital Association said the 
new standards echo AHA policy for its members ­ about 5,000 
hospitals and health care systems nationwide.



 AHA policy even goes further, advising hospitals to tell patients 
about mistakes that don1t cause any harm, Nielsen said.



 In Congress some legislators are calling for nearly $1 billion to 
help hospitals and technology companies invest in devices to avoid 
more deaths and injuries. Congressional figures show medication 
errors ­ missed dosages, double dosages, and dangerous mixes ­ are 
believed to kill or injure 777,000 people each year.