Just how common are medical errors? A poll conducted in Massachusetts found that one in four adults questioned reported that they had personally experienced a medical error of some kind within the past five years. This included witnessing an error in the care of a loved one.
About half of those who said they had seen or experienced a medical error themselves reported that it had serious health consequences. About three-fourths of the mistakes occurred during hospital care, and misdiagnosis was the most common, accounting for just over half of the mistakes.
Were Errors Reported?
Patients and family members were often reluctant to report the error. Only about half did so. The motivation in these cases was to keep the same calamity from happening to another person.
Those who did not report the error refrained because they didn’t think it would help, or because they were afraid that they would no longer be able to receive care.
The respondents were almost unanimous in supporting greater transparency regarding health care harm.
[Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction & the Health Policy Commission]
What Can You Do?
If you would like pointers on avoiding misdiagnoses and other medical misadventures, we suggest our book, Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them. We have provided concrete steps you can take to protect yourself or someone you love from being misdiagnosed or a victim of other medical mistakes.
You may also appreciate the patient toolkit from the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine.
