What happens when the surgeon operates on the left knee when the patient was supposed to have surgery on the right knee? What happens when Mrs. Betty Jones receives medications intended for Mrs. Beth Jones and suffers a cardiac arrest as a result? To my mind, those acts of “mistakes” which lawyers call acts of negligence should be disclosed to the patient and their family.
In Washington State these acts of negligence, although not consistently reported to the patient and/or family, historically have been reported to the state Department of Health. But now the Washington State Hospital Association says it doesn’t want the public to know which hospitals made the mistakes. It contends that a bill passed last year forbids release of such records, and the association has gotten the state to halt disclosure.
Read the article on reporting hospital mistakes.
Do the hospitals in your area report these problems? How about the hospitals in our area? Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County, Danville Regional Medical Center, Stonewall Jackson Hospital, Carilion New River Valley Hospital, Montgomery Regional Hospital, Wellmont Bristol Regional Hospital, Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital, Alleghany Regional Hospital, Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital…and the list goes on!