I've seen it myself, two people almost die on two separate occasions because of mistakes, negligence, or just apathy. If you are not vigilant, you are at risk. And you should expect it. As...
I've seen it myself, two people almost die on two separate occasions because of mistakes, negligence, or just apathy.
If you are not vigilant, you are at risk.
And you should expect it. As anywhere else in life, be mindful, vigilant, and avoid stupidity.
Stupidity I've read defined as ignoring obvious information which is presented to you.
This is why it's so important to have a relative or family or friend or even stranger there with you. Never leave your family in the hospital alone if you can help it.
Doctors are there to help you, and so are the nurses. They're also just doing a job, day in, day out, and the medical system isn't helping them with the required 36-hours-per-day shifts, demand for everything to be regimented, understaffing, paperwork, and so on.
Help them help you by being your own advocate or having a polite and firm advocate with you.
Something like this happened to a friend of my spouse's. She has a PICC line and it became infected. She went to the ER to get some antibiotics and they tried to tell her there was nothing they...
Something like this happened to a friend of my spouse's. She has a PICC line and it became infected. She went to the ER to get some antibiotics and they tried to tell her there was nothing they could do except set up hospice care for her! This is an infection that had happened before and she'd taken a course of antibiotics and recovered completely and they were telling her that they couldn't help her and she was going to die. Luckily she posted on social media and a friend was able to come advocate for her and basically saved her life.
When this happens, telling the hospital staff that you'll be reporting their incompetence to the state medical board apparently helps a lot in getting the care you actually deserve. (And following-through and doing it helps others and possibly yourself in the future.)
Wow! I can't imagine being responsible for peoples lives, but at the same being so afraid of getting sued that you refuse to learn how to do it better when you fail and instead just deny...
Wow! I can't imagine being responsible for peoples lives, but at the same being so afraid of getting sued that you refuse to learn how to do it better when you fail and instead just deny everything. Such a shitty situation to be in.
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine issued its landmark report, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” which estimated that as many as 98,000 hospital deaths a year were caused by medical errors. The report made national headlines and generated much subsequent discussion on the causes and effects of medical errors, and the ethics of transparency and disclosure. In response, many hospitals changed their practices and procedures, but two decades later, as my experience suggests, even the best hospitals and doctors remain resistant to admitting error, in large part because they fear malpractice lawsuits.
Recent research bolsters this view. Several years ago, researchers posed two hypothetical scenarios involving medical error — a delayed breast cancer diagnosis, and a delayed response to a patient’s symptoms because of uncoordinated care — to 300 primary care physicians. More than 70 percent of the doctors surveyed said they would provide “only a limited or no apology, limited or no explanation, and limited or no information about the cause.” Further, when hospital representatives, rather than physicians, respond to medical errors by denying, minimizing or covering them up, physicians often conclude that their hospitals have no interest in confronting these errors head-on. Sure sounds like my situation.
My experience also exemplifies the phenomenon known as “the normalization of deviance” discussed by Diane Vaughan in her 1996 book on the space shuttle Challenger disaster. Vaughan concludes that multiple problems preceding the shuttle launch were recognized, but then rationalized, and “normalized” when they didn’t cause a disaster — until they ultimately did.
I've seen it myself, two people almost die on two separate occasions because of mistakes, negligence, or just apathy.
If you are not vigilant, you are at risk.
And you should expect it. As anywhere else in life, be mindful, vigilant, and avoid stupidity.
Stupidity I've read defined as ignoring obvious information which is presented to you.
This is why it's so important to have a relative or family or friend or even stranger there with you. Never leave your family in the hospital alone if you can help it.
Doctors are there to help you, and so are the nurses. They're also just doing a job, day in, day out, and the medical system isn't helping them with the required 36-hours-per-day shifts, demand for everything to be regimented, understaffing, paperwork, and so on.
Help them help you by being your own advocate or having a polite and firm advocate with you.
Something like this happened to a friend of my spouse's. She has a PICC line and it became infected. She went to the ER to get some antibiotics and they tried to tell her there was nothing they could do except set up hospice care for her! This is an infection that had happened before and she'd taken a course of antibiotics and recovered completely and they were telling her that they couldn't help her and she was going to die. Luckily she posted on social media and a friend was able to come advocate for her and basically saved her life.
When this happens, telling the hospital staff that you'll be reporting their incompetence to the state medical board apparently helps a lot in getting the care you actually deserve. (And following-through and doing it helps others and possibly yourself in the future.)
Wow! I can't imagine being responsible for peoples lives, but at the same being so afraid of getting sued that you refuse to learn how to do it better when you fail and instead just deny everything. Such a shitty situation to be in.
From the article: