Maryland Hospital Complications and Medical Mistakes Are Not Consistently Reported
A new report highlights how many Maryland hospitals are not being upfront about the number of medical mistakes and preventable complications are occurring in the state, which may further increase the risk of harm for patients.
An article was published this week by the Baltimore Sun, which warns that hospital mistakes are widely underreported in Maryland, and that the state does not have an adequate mechanism to force hospitals disclose cases where errors cause harm for patients.
In its Hospital Patient Safety Report, the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality noted that in fiscal year 2013, Maryland hospitals submitted a total of 223 reports of Level 1 Adverse Events. That included an average of only four events for the entire year reported by facilities with more than 301 beds; a number that most people agree is virtually impossible.
What’s more, only 52 incidents of bedsores in Maryland hospitals were reported in 2013, even though that is one of the most common (and preventable) complications to occur during hospitalization.
While the numbers may be revealing some huge, unanticipated improvement in the quality of care provided in Maryland, experts seem to agree that it is clearly a sign of underreported medical complications in the state. According to quotes provided to the Baltimore Sun by experts, even if the state experienced an average number of hospital bedsores in 2013, that number should have been around 4,000… not 52.
Unfortunately, we may never know exactly how far off the reported numbers are, or what the true rate of Maryland hospital complications is, unless the state follows the path taken by at least seven other states, requiring hospitals to publicly report mistakes by law.
The Office of Health Care Quality does have regulations that call for 66 acute care and specialty hospitals to report serious adverse events, which can include wrong-site surgeries, infections and bedsores. However, even those reports keep the identity of the facilities secret.
Maryland is probably not alone in underreporting, according to a 2012 study on hospital error reporting by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ office of the inspector general (DHHS-OIG). That report found that only about 14% of all medical mistakes that harm patients nationwide are ever actually reported.
Participation in the federal Medicare reimbursement program requires each participating hospital to track medical errors and adverse patient events and create incident reports for errors that result in patient harm. However, a review of 189 hospitals’ records nationwide by DHHS-OIG found that only one out of every seven patient harm incidents was properly reported. Most of the errors that did get reported were submitted by nurses.
About 61 percent of the incidents were not reported due to staff members not knowing they should report them, hospital administrators told investigators. The remaining 25% that went unreported were cases where administrators claimed the staff commonly made a report, but failed in that particular instance.
Experts quoted by the Baltimore Sun suggest that attempts to avoid hospital malpractice lawsuits also likely play a role, which is a poor excuse. Recognition of preventable medical errors and transparency not only help hospitals improve patient care (reducing the risk of harm for future patients), but are likely to reduce the number of medical malpractice that facilities will face over those errors that never occur.
Unfortunately, hospitals and medical providers seem to be more focused on keep information about error and complication rates out of the hands of patients.
A study published in September 2013 in the Journal of Patient Safety found that as many as 400,000 Americans die every year because of preventable hospital mistakes. The number of patients harmed by such mistakes, but not fatally could be 10 to 20 times that number, according to the report. Many of these deaths and serious injuries could be prevented if mandatory disclosure of medical mistakes was required in nationwide.
Maryland Hospital Malpractice Lawyers
The lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. review potential Maryland medical malpractice cases where serious injury or death may have been caused by an error or complication that could have been prevented if the proper standards of medical care were followed.
If you suspect that yourself, a friend or family member may have been the victim of a Maryland hospital mistake, request a free consultation and claim evaluation.
No Comments • Add Your Comments