Accidental Deaths: When Hospitals Screw Up
Health Magazine had an interesting article on the frequency and likelihood of hospitals making mistakes that cause a life to be lost. Certainly our medical physicians and surgeons should be revered for their hard work, long hours and continued research into the diseases and ailments that rob our loved ones of life every day. But doctors are also human and can make mistakes, sometimes to the worst of consequences. The magazine gives a quick list of things to do should you believe that a hospital has made a mistake in treating you or a loved one.
The Hospital Screwed Up: Now What?
1. Ask What Happened
2. Get a Copy of Your Medical Records
3. Start Keeping Your Own Notes
4. Speak to a Higher-Up
5. File a Complaint
6. Consult a Lawyer
Read the entire Health Series “Guide to Preventing Medical Mistakes“
August 24th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Another statistic to add to the collection. My father died at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, OR in June 2007 because of a hospital screw up. My dad had suffered a minor heart attack and was admitted to the ER. He was later admitted to the ICU. After the bed transfer, the staff failed to hook up the EKG and about 15 minutes later my father coded. Since he wasn’t hooked up, I had to go out in the hallway and yell for help. The staff came in and then left and hit the code 99 button. The help that came in was pretty sad (as I was in the room watching). The nurse give chest compressions was short and standing on the floor and couldn’t get a straight down push on my father’s chest, and to make things worse, the compression rate was under the 100 compressions per minute rate. Then the nurse putting on the bag-mask put the mask on upside down. Then, once the crash cart came in, the tech couldn’t find all the things he needed. After about 15 hospital staff were in the room, my wife and I were asked to leave the room. I stood outside the door watching everything going on. It was a pitiful site watching what looked like a lot of people standing around watching. The first shock came some 23 minutes after his code; they ended up shocking him three or four times and injecting him with a variety of drugs to try and bring him back. They finally got his heart rate back about 45 minutes later but his brain was gone. Some my sister and I finally said enough is enough and we had the life support stopped.
We met with the Risk Manager of the hospital later and received a lot of false promises about looking into the incident. They promised within 30 days we would receive a full report. After 35 days I called and then magically a one paragraph letter was sent saying they hospital didn’t do anything wrong.
This same hospital has killed other people I’m aware of, but nothing seems to change.