Yes, although it seems these two things are very different….they are connected.
How? Because your chances of dying in a hospital due to medical negligence is greater than your chance of going down in a plane crash.
In a recent news briefing, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) newly appointed envoy for patient safety Liam Donaldson pointed out that the chance of dying in a plane crash is about 1 in 10 million, but some 1 in 10 patients encounter medical errors at the hospital. The chances of dying from a medical error in the hospital are about 1 in 300.
My Take: I acknowledge the underlying statistics for the WHO’s briefing come from hospitals all over the world but…I don’t think patient safety in American hospitals is dramatically better than in any other developed country…and some recent commentators suggest it is less so.