Report Says 195,000 Deaths Due to Hospital Error

[southernleftylady]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As many as 195,000 people a year could be dying in U.S. hospitals because of easily prevented errors, a company said on Tuesday in an estimate that doubles previous figures.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040727/hl_nm/health_mistakes_dc_1

[Warpy]

1. Right, I'm not surprised

Now hospitals, not content with working staff 12 hours at a time instead of a safer 8 hours, is putting their RNs on salary, calling them "supervisory personnel" and increasing the number of those 12 hour shifts per week.

Most hospitals were already doing "mandatory overtime" of at least one extra shift a week. Now, with the switch to salaried positions, nurses will find that extra shift set into stone with more piled on top due to short staffing.

An overtired worker in WalMart might hang clothing up on the wrong rack or drop things stocking shelves. An overtired hospital worker who becomes error prone can do much more damage.

I don't know what it will take for corporate bosses to realize that human beings are not machines. You'd think the number of errors they've tracked like this would be a wakeup call, but it isn't. They are looking for ways to force more hours on exhausted workers for less pay.

[Nite Owl]

2. And the Repuke answer

is to cap malpractice suits. On one hand lives mean little and on the other the unborn are their battle cry for everything. Does no one see the hypocrisy in this?

[GOPisEvil]

3. Here's a cheery thought: "tort reform" makes it cheaper to let you die.

If all the hospital is out is $250,000, they might make the determination that it's not financially prudent to save your life.