Running head: MEDICAL ERRORS 1

Medical Errors Within Hospitals

Michael Calara
ISC - 495
Professor Jillian Wojcik







Running head: MEDICAL ERRORS 2

Medical Errors
A controversy within my chosen career field is how many patients who die from medical
related errors within the hospital setting. According to the author Marshall Allen (2013), "The
numbers may be much higher - between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the
hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death" (Allen,
2013)" The issue is not the type of malpractice that may be occurring, but what are the real
amount fatalities associated with this medical issue? These numbers are considerably higher in
comparison to the previous decade. The author, Allen (2013), looked at previous literature, and
found that in 1999, the medical report "To Err Is Human" was published which initially opened
this issue and at the time, approximately 98,000 people die each year due to hospital mistakes.
About ten years later, Marshall Allen has stated this, " In 2010, the Office of Inspector General
for the Department of Health and Human Services said that bad hospital care contributed to the
deaths of 180,000 patients in Medicare alone in a given year" (Allen, 2013). The estimates have
nearly doubled and despite having a great estimate it exposes an issue that could have been
preventable.
On the other side of this argument is that, much of the hospital deaths can be prevented
by those who review a patient's case. In the article by Hayward and Hofer (2001) they had stated
"On theoretical grounds that these statistics are likely overestimates. They were particularly
concerned about the lack of consideration of the expected risk of death in the absence of the
medical error" (Hayward & Hofer, 2001, p. 416). The authors wanted to look at other factors
that may or may not have an impact on the hospital related deaths. In their study, they had
brought together several physicians who were trained extensively to review previous hospital
deaths from 1995 to 1996 from several Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. The
Running head: MEDICAL ERRORS 3

authors stated this about the training for physicians, "Fourteen board-certified internists with
extensive experience in inpatient medicine were trained in the use of the implicit review
instrument, reviewed sample charts, and discussed these reviews" (Hayward & Hofer, 2001, p.
416). Part of the review was to look at the discrepancies between the care of medical treatment
rather than each personal opinion of the fourteen physicians. Part of the focus was to keep the
opinions as unbiased as possible, in which that reviews of the physicians would probably be
skewed if these physicians had any relations from the patients. In their results, majority of their
patients were of older age, at least sixty years old, and at the time may have acquired other
hospital related illnesses, such as hospital-acquired renal failure, hyperkalemia, hypokalemia,
hyponatremia or digoxin toxicity (Hayward & Hofer, 2001). These implications may have
contributed to the higher rate of deaths from the medical centers. On the other hand, the type of
care received were well rated and in cases were type of greater was rated higher, the probability
of preventable death was also related higher. The results from the authors study that there is
some sort of correlation between patients who are at near the end of their life or in intensive care
where medical errors are more likely to appear regardless of what type treatment that patient
have received (Hayward & Hofer, 2001). An argument that these hospital related deaths are a
somewhat overestimated, the authors state, "Simply because implicit review suggest that errors
may rarely result in preventable deaths does not excuse mistakes or suggest that they are
inconsequential" (Hayward & Hofer, 2001, p. 419). In other words the authors are stating that
there might be other underlying issues that may have affected in death or at least started the
complications which resulted later on in death.
My initial reaction to this topic is that, we go hospital to get fixed up, receive the proper
treatment to come out healthier, but not the opposite. We trust our lives to the nurses and doctors
Running head: MEDICAL ERRORS 4

who go through an extensive education in order to give the help that the sick look for. With these
estimates on the rise surely the hospital staff knows that this is a current issue to their career.
Malpractice and wrongful deaths could cost them their license. What the two article above failed
to mention are any malpractices that may have occur to the possibility of death. Instead they
looked at quality or type of treatment and if that kind of treatment was the most effective for that
patient. Also in the Hayward and Hofer article, they have stated," These Veterans Affairs
hospitals cannot be assumed to be representative of US hospitals in general" (Hayward & Hofer,
2001, p. 419). Even though their findings help contribute towards the issue, it does not accurately
represent all hospital or clinical settings across the United States. I do think that the fourteen
physicians who received training mentioned above should not be specialized for case studies
such as this. If the training extended to other hospital faculty not only to physicians, but to nurses
and doctors, then there should be a less marginal space for error. In the article by Marshall
Allen, the author states that a medical screening method can be currently used by physicians to
help look for indications that may cause potential harm. "Known as 'adverse events' in the
medical vernacular - using a screening method called the Global Trigger Tool, which guides
reviewers through medical records, searching for signs of infection, injury or error" (Allen,
2013). The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has said this about developed tool, "The Global
Trigger Tool has become a tool that hundreds of hospitals in multiple countries now use to
monitor adverse event rates while working to improve patient safety" (Institute for Healthcare
Improvement, 2014). So in comparison from about a decade ago, there have been advancements
in order to help track the statistics of these deaths, but number continues to rise given what is
already mentioned. Perhaps there has to be a more extensive training that some of the specialized
hospital staff have to go through. Otherwise I can agree with John James in an interview in
Running head: MEDICAL ERRORS 5

Marshall Allen's article. "Perhaps it is time for a national patient bill of rights for hospitalized
patients" (Allen, 2013). I believe this type of bill of rights can ensure that all patients will receive
proper treatment administered by qualified hospital staff.














Running head: MEDICAL ERRORS 6

References
Allen, M. (2013). How Many Die From Medical Mistatkes In U.S. Hospitals? Propublica.
Hayward, R., & Hofer, T. (2001). Estimating Hospital Deaths Due to Medical Errors. American
Medical Association , 415-420.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2014, March 1). IHI Global Trigger Tool for Measuring
Adverse Events. Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.