In 2013 210,000 patients died in U.S. hospitals due to medical mistakes. Mistakes that could have been and should have been prevented.
It seems that these high numbers exist due to the refrain from the medical community that, “to err is human.”
As a patient, a citizen, and as a personal injury attorney these numbers are unacceptable and frightening; as is the rational. Mistakes do happen, but shouldn’t hospitals be held accountable for the deaths they cause which they could have prevented?
I recently heard a report which compared hospitals to the airline industry. Hospitals expect to loose a certain amount of lives per year due to preventable errors. What if the airline industry did the same? Imagine every airline carrier finding it acceptable that a few planes go down per year due to pilot error. This is not acceptable in the airline industry, why should it be for hospitals?
Those who do harm must be held accountable.
