Health care harm may seem rather abstract, but just think of five people you know who are 65 or older. A new study shows that one of them will suffer from medical injury (harm caused by health care that was intended to help).
The scientists analyzed medical records from 12,500 Medicare recipients between 1998 and 2005. During this time, 19 percent of these people experienced harm as a consequence of health care. The analysis was not able to say how many of those injurious episodes were due to medical error, but previous studies have suggested that medical error is more common than anyone would like. Two thirds of the problems occurred in outpatient or nursing home settings rather than in hospitals, which are known to be high risk. Being harmed during the study period doubled a person’s risk of dying during that time. The researchers conclude, “Overall, our findings indicate that [medical injuries] pose significant risk to the health and wellbeing of older Medicare beneficiaries, while the effects are observed long after the initial episode has concluded.”
[Injury Prevention, online May 28, 2014]
We have seen medical mistakes up close and personal and not just from visitors to this website. People we loved have been harmed and even killed because of medical mistakes. That is why we wrote the book, Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them. We want to help protect you and those you love from this kind of preventable harm. Here is a link to information about the book. Don’t become one out of five older people who experience harm from health care!
