What do more medical mistakes have to do with the U.S. House of Representatives? The answer: more than you could ever imagine.
Let me explain. There is currently before the House of Representatives a bill called the “Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare”(HEALTH) Act of 2011.’’ Under this bill, the costs of medical mistakes would shift to injured patients, their families and taxpayer-funded health and disability programs.
And how are acts of medical negligence trending? How about a recent study which reveals that one out of every three hospital patients is sickened, injured, killed or otherwise harmed because of a medical error. That is Not a very good trend. The report, published in April edition of Health Affairs concludes:
Despite more than a decade of national focus on patient safety, medical errors and other adverse events occur in one-third of hospital admissions–as much as ten times more than some previous estimates have indicated…
My Take: Why would Congress want to push the costs of medical errors onto the very victims of medical negligence? Maybe doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies give more money to their re-election campaigns than those who are the victims of medical malpractice!