The Real Crisis – Medical Negligence

As stated above, the cost of medical malpractice premiums are essentially one half of one percent of the total cost of health care.  We should be focusing instead on the cost of medical negligence on our citizens and our health care system.

Medical errors kill as many as 98,000 Americans every year and seriously injure another 1,000,000 per year.  This makes medical errors the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S., higher than AIDS, automobile accidents and breast cancer.[76]

Extrapolated to Georgia’s population, that same study shows that nearly 2,800 Georgians die annually as a result of medical errors.  This correlates to more than 7 Georgians dying from malpractice every single day.  And another 77 Georgians are seriously injured by medical mistakes every day.

75,000 hospital patients were killed in 2000 by preventable infections, making it the fourth leading cause of death for Americans.  “Infection rates are soaring nationally, exacerbated by hospital cutbacks and carelessness by doctors and nurses.”[77]

Hospital patients are 36% more likely to get an infection now than they were in the 1970s. [78]

Medical errors cost the economy $29 billion every year in excess medical expenses and lost productivity.[79]  

One out of every 200 people admitted to a hospital dies because of a hospital mistake.[80]

Only one out of every eight patients who are killed or seriously injured by medical negligence ever files a lawsuit.[81]

Physicians have operated on the wrong body part or the wrong patient at least 108 times over the last two years.  These mistakes “are completely preventable and should never happen.”[82]

A recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health reported that more than one third of practicing physicians and 40% of the public have experienced a medical error – defined as a mistake that results in death, disability or requiring additional treatment.  18% of physicians and 24% of the public said the mistake caused “serious health consequences.”[83]

In light of these sad and sobering facts, now is not the time to make life more difficult for those who have become victims of medical malpractice.  It is vitally important to the safety of all Georgia families that those people who have been injured by a medical error should be able to receive compensation for their injuries and assistance in their recovery.  It is equally important that health care consumers are able to access the track records of physicians and hospitals so they can make informed decisions when choosing a health care provider.  Consumer information is an area that needs significant improvement.

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