We know a lot more than we used to about diagnosis mistakes in hospitals, but a new study says that every year, at least 1 in 20 adults gets the wrong diagnosis in a doctor’s office. For more than 6 million U.S. patients a year, according to the authors of the study published in the….
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Routinely Screening Elderly for Dementia Is a Waste of Time and Money
According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), routine screening of all older individuals for cognitive impairment – or early warning signs of dementia – has no scientifically proven benefit. The task force, which rigorously evaluates clinical research to assess the merits of preventive measures, such as screening tests and medications, analyzed evidence of….
Continue ReadingBoy’s Death from Misdiagnosis Points Up CDC’s Inadequate Sepsis Information
More than a year ago, we wrote about Rory Staunton, a boy in New York who fell into septic shock because a hospital misdiagnosed his problem as a stomach bug. Septic shock is a deadly result of sepsis, an overwhelming immune response to infection that triggers a host of responses that, left unchecked, lead to….
Continue ReadingTrendy Diagnosis of ADHD Is Bad Medicine
Earlier this month, the New York Times told a story, “The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder,” about how diagnoses for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have boomed since the problem was accepted in recent decades as a true neurological problem in some children. How drugs such as Adderall and Concerta have become popular for helping….
Continue ReadingMisdiagnosis Is the Most Common and Most Dangerous Medical Mistake
After reviewing 25 years’ worth of payouts for malpractice claims in the U.S., researchers determined that diagnostic errors represented the largest proportion of claims, the most serious patient harm and the highest total of penalty payouts. As reported by ScienceDaily.com, the researchers from Johns Hopkins Hospital found that diagnostic errors accounted for 28.6% of the….
Continue ReadingDiagnostic Errors in Primary Care Put Many at Risk
Most of the attention given to medical errors concerns institutional issues, such as surgical mistakes, hospital medication mishaps, lack of infection control and emergency room misdiagnoses, or individual caregivers who are woefully deficient in the practice of medicine. But a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine makes clear that primary care patients also are routinely….
Continue ReadingKidney Disorder Often Treated with Unnecessary Surgery
The authors of an unsettling study recently published in The Lancet concluded that thousands of people have had kidneys removed unnecessarily because doctors misdiagnosed their disease. As interpreted in a story on ScienceDaily.com, 1 in 5 people with kidney tumors, which are common in patients with a genetic disorder known as tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC),….
Continue ReadingBoy’s Death from Sepsis Spurs Guidelines to Prevent Malpractice in Treatment
Earlier in 2012, we wrote about the sad, unnecessary death of Rory Staunton, a 12-year-old New Yorker who died of septic shock because he was misdiagnosed with a stomach bug. A good thing has come of that tragic event. As the New York Times reported, New York will be the first state to require hospitals….
Continue ReadingScary Numbers and Sobering Questions about Diagnostic Errors
In an insightful piece published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), three physicians ponder why errors in diagnosis are not represented in efforts to improve the quality of medical care and, ultimately, patient safety. According to the authors, 40,000-80,000 people die every year from diagnostic errors; those are defined as mistakes….
Continue Reading“Lessons Learned in Blood:” Capt. Sullenberger on Preventing Medical Malpractice
Readers should check out a powerful NYT column by Maureen Dowd on the unnecessary death of a 12-year-old boy from an undiagnosed but easily treatable strep infection. Rory Staunton’s hero was Captain Sully Sullenberger, who safely landed the airliner in the Hudson. As Sullenberger told Ms. Dowd: “If something good comes from Rory’s death, it….
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