Bed sores -- which are always considered to be the result of an error -- produced the largest annual error cost, at almost $3.9 billion, followed by post-op infections ($3.7 billion), device complications ($1.1 billion), complications from failed spinal surgery ($1.1 billion) and hemorrhages ($960 million). To come up with those figures, researchers found the total cost of a given type of injury and estimated how often it was caused by an error.
"This is so important, and yet it's so overlooked," says California Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorney Steven C. Peck. "We have wonderful information in this country about automobile safety and how in the last 20 years we've reduced highway deaths by 35% ... but we have no starting point for medical errors or injuries."
I'd like to see better federal patient-safety efforts, including a mandatory national reporting system. Contact us toll free at 1.866.999.9085 to talk to an experienced Medical Malpractice and Elder Abuse Attorney and visit us online at www.premierlegal.org.
