One hundred thousand preventable deaths from medical errors in hospitals each year: That is the usual statistic cited by patient safety advocates. It comes from a 10-year-old report issued by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. The fact is, though, that the death and injury rate could be substantially higher. No….
Continue ReadingArchives for July 2009
Improving the “Informed Consent” Process with Old-Fashioned Conversation
Everyone who has had any medical or surgical procedure has signed a consent form — usually lots of intimidating words, hard to read, and seldom explained well. There is a better way, and it involves recognizing that true “consent” is not about signing a form, but it’s about old-fashioned conversation — a real dialogue between….
Continue ReadingCongress Should Listen to the Patients on Patient Safety Day
I wrote a column posted on Huffington Post about the ninth annual Patient Safety Day on Saturday, July 25. Here’s an excerpt: As Congress tinkers with health care reform, lawmakers should listen to what a special group of advocates is trying to tell them. There is no better day to listen than Saturday, July 25,….
Continue ReadingA Good Sign of a Doctor to Avoid
Web sites are proliferating that offer candid — sometimes brutally so — reviews by patients of doctors. The sites include Angie’s List, RateMDs, Yelp, DrScore and Vitals.com. Now some doctors burned by reviews are striking back. A growing number of them are asking new patients to sign up-front agreements promising not to post anything about….
Continue ReadingBreast Cancer Screening: A Provocative Balance Sheet
Imagine if every 50-year-old woman thinking about whether to have a mammogram received the following “balance sheet” showing the “credits” and “debits” as understood by the latest research: For every 1,000 women who have a yearly mammogram over the next ten years: Credits 1 woman will avoid dying from breast cancer Debits 2-10 women will….
Continue ReadingCancer Screening: Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be
Everyone has seen the ads: for cancer of the breast, prostate, colon and now thyroid cancer — urging Americans to get a test to see if they have cancer and can get early life-saving treatment. The new thyroid campaign says: “Don’t forget to check your neck.” However, it’s a rare disease that kills about 1,600….
Continue ReadingThe Hospital “Revolving Door” — New Information on a Big Danger
Medicare has just published new information that helps patients determine if their local hospitals have a dangerous “revolving door” problem with some of their treatments. The revolving door happens when a patient is sent home but then has to be readmitted to the hospital within one month. That means either that the patient was sent….
Continue ReadingThe Hidden Costs of “Free” Drug Samples
They seem so benign — those free samples of prescription drugs in bubble packs that your doctor hands out at the end of an office visit. But there are plenty of hidden costs in free samples, and two prominent doctors have written an essay asking that the pharmaceutical industry stop the $15 billion a year….
Continue ReadingToday show discusses patient safety and “The Life You Save”
Patrick Malone’s new book was featured on the Today show in an interview with Matt Lauer. Click here to see the video and read Chapter 2 of the book. The book is “The Life You Save: Nine Steps to Finding the Best Medical Care — and Avoiding the Worst.” Topics discussed on the Today show….
Continue ReadingHow to Learn from Medical Mistakes
A column in the New York Times by Pauline Chen, M.D., relates how a colleague of hers named “Ed” crashed and burned on his way to becoming a general surgeon, seemingly because of his difficulty in learning from his own mistakes. The blog comments by both doctors and patients are revealing. Many make the point….
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