How to protect yourself from the country’s third biggest killer
Blake was only 19 years old when a medical mistake took his life.
While being discharged from a hospital stay for colitis, an error in removing a central IV line cut off the blood supply to his brain and lungs.
Little Emily had just turned two, and was receiving her final cancer treatment when a drug overdose in the chemo IV killed her. The doctors had just told her parents the little girl was cancer-free.
If you think medical mistakes like these are just rare slip-ups, well, they’re not. One could easily happen to you or a loved one.
A new study out of Johns Hopkins has found that such errors are now the third leading cause of death in the U.S. But as these researchers admit, that finding is likely just the tip of the iceberg.
That’s why it’s never been more important to take three simple steps that may save your life or the life of someone you love.
“It boils down to people dying from the care that they receive rather than the disease for which they are seeking care.”
That’s how Dr. Martin Makary, a professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins, sums up his recent study.
The report, which was released last week, says medical mistakes kill over 250,000 people a year.
That’s more lives than are claimed by accidents, strokes or Alzheimer’s. It’s the equivalent of 500 fully packed jumbo jets crashing every year.
But as bad as that sounds, the real number is probably much, much higher.
Even Dr. Makary’s team acknowledges that their study “underestimates” the actual number of people who are dying due to medical mix-ups. And when you hear why, you might not believe it.
The only statistics available document those who died while they were inpatients. When someone is outside of or released from a hospital or care facility, a medical mistake isn’t counted.
And, as Dr. Markary noted, it’s rare as hen’s teeth for a doctor to put a medical error down as a cause of death on a death certificate. But why would they! That would be like placing a classified ad saying “sue me!”
But sometimes lawsuits are the only way we learn about these horrors, such as in the case of Willie F. King.
When Mr. King, a diabetic, sued his surgeon after having had the wrong foot amputated over 20 years ago, he was often the butt of jokes on late-night TV. Apparently this kind of gross negligence by doctors was considered so uncommon that some found it funny.
But now, medical mistakes are the norm. And they include such horrors as treating the wrong patient, leaving surgical instruments inside of patients, incorrect removal of a central IV line (what happened to Blake) and even confusing tubes, such as a chest tube and a feeding tube.
And while experts are now shaking their heads over this new study, there are also hundreds of thousands of patients who don’t die, but suffer severe injuries as a result of mistakes. One doctor puts that estimate at 40 times what the Hopkins researchers found.
So before you receive any kind of medical care, here are three things to remember that just might save your life.
- Do a double check: From filling a prescription to being wheeled off for a test, make sure you’re getting or receiving exactly what you were expecting.
- Speak up: If you’re having any unexpected pain, swelling or fever after an operation, tell your doctor right away. A surgical tool might have been left inside of you.
- Ask questions: From tests to drugs to having an operation, don’t be afraid – or embarrassed – to ask if it’s really necessary. And if you’re still not sure, get a second opinion.
Sources:
“Researchers: Medical errors now third leading cause of death in United States” Arlana Eunjung Cha, May 3, 2016, The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com
