Medical Malpractice Prevention Reduces Healthcare Risk

According to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine

, medical errors cost the lives of some 90,000 people every year. In fact, medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer. Medical malpractice is defined as an act of negligence by a health care provider, deviating from accepted standards of care, which results in complications or death of a patient. Simply put, it is taking an action that a competent medical practitioner wouldn't take, or failing to take an action a competent medical practitioner would take under the same circumstances. It can be the result of a mistaken misdiagnosis with civil implications or a deliberate violation of standards resulting in criminal prosecution.

The most common instances result from medication errors that affect 1.5 million people a year or more and account for about 80 percent of malpractice claims paid out each year. Other areas of malpractice that are most common include delayed treatment, birth injuries, anesthesia errors, surgical errors, misdiagnosis or improper treatment, nursing home abuse, and institutional sexual misconduct. The number of claims filed by patients do not accurately reflect the number of actual cases of malpractice occurrences. The Harvard Institute reports that only one person injured out of more than seven ever files a formal claim.

Without question, medical malpractice adds to the cost of healthcare in the Unites States with an estimated $900 million spent annually in added costs from preventable drug related injuries alone. Costs for instances throughout the medical industry in addition to insurance and legal expenses add much more to that figure. There have been considerable efforts made for tort reform and limitations of patient compensation to help reduce claim costs, though the greatest efforts in the medical industry currently are being concentrated towards medical malpractice prevention through improving patient safety.

Extensive studies and programs are being implemented into improving patient safety and outcomes to minimize harm and the costs involved to patients and health service organizations. Measurable improvements in standards of healthcare delivery, staffing, and processes can be accomplished through thorough root cause analysis within a culture focused on patient safety objectives. Often preventable injuries are systemic in cause due to processes, such as hospital drug delivery practices, more than individual error. Addressing these systemic weaknesses in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, managed care institutions, and private healthcare practitioners result in healthcare performance improvement and medical malpractice prevention.

by: Art Gib

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