Preventing Medical Mishaps

Sick people and their concerned families turn forastounding sum of 100,000 to 300,000
rescue to the world of medicine, the safest andpreventable deaths a year in the medical system
most merciful of all human endeavors, so it wouldof the United States. Reaction from the public and
seem. But exposure to the system too oftenfrom patients and doctors alike to this disturbing
comes with another reality-the medical arena is nonews, as would be expected, has been disbelief.
different from other human endeavors and inSurely these figures can't be right! And who says
some ways can be worse, the astonished andso, anyway? Hospitals are the safest of shelters
grieving relatives left in a state of shockedand doctors and nurses the most competent of
disbelief, as happened to a lovely middle-aged lady,keepers. Right?
a devoted and concerned wife, "Betsy Simmons".Besides, there is no other place to turn when
Thanks to a medical "mistake" her husband, "Mr.illness strikes with the threat of death, a time
Simmons" wiggled restlessly in the night, looseningwhen patients and their families want someone
his subclavian line out of its socket, and bledwith knowledge and the ability to take over and
quietly to death in the night. He had lostget them out of trouble, someone to trust
consciousness and never called for help. He died atcompletely. In this mood people tend to surrender
the most dangerous time of the day, when theto the system; it's too complicated anyway for
night ends, nurses change shifts. In this daily 7amoutsiders.
ceremony, nurses who have been on duty allSo, a closer look to see who is talking reveals
night turn over the patients to the crew arriving infacts even more sobering; the tabulations have
the middle of heavy hallway traffic. The scene isbeen coming not from activists, sensation
edgy with an air of confusion. "John Simmons"seekers, advocates of other therapies, or self-
died because no one had been watching him. Theassured crazies, but from reliable and important
incident caused no public reaction and elicited nosources such as the Institute of Medicine and the
response from law enforcement officers or fromNew England Journal of Medicine among others,
professional-conduct monitors. The news reachedand the reports continue. Now, on this foundation
the local papers only as an obituary and drew nothe news has a somber tone and a significance,
national attention. The victim, prominent neitherindeed, of the utmost seriousness, the problem
politically or otherwise, left no relatives except hismuch bigger than anyone suggested.
stunned wife, who reacted only with defeat andIn the modern medical system as it continues to
caused no disturbance by attacking the doctor ordevelop, the possibility of mishaps continues to
suing the hospital.increase, especially in the areas where financial
Then the happening of this preventable deathstrictures are applied for the sake of profit.
became an anticlimax in the silence of historyPatients caught up in these circumstances can no
because such quirks of fate are so unexpected.longer complacently regard the medical scene with
The infrequent news media reports of medicalthe attitude "It can't happen here." It does happen
mishaps such as this one usually are ignoredhere, and patients and their families must learn to
because the events seem so remote ofrecognize the dangers and how to avoid them.
everyday reality. But in the past decade increasingLearn more about these situations and become
evidence has stimulated concern and provokedaware in order to protect yourself and your loved
statistical evaluations and other investigations intoones. Read the full story of "Mr. and Mrs.
the world of modern medicine. As a consequenceSimmons" in "Life in the Deadly World of Medicine"
several recent studies claim altogether thewritten by Dr. Joseph T. McFadden MD, FACS.