1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (86 page)

CHAPTER 14
Open Wide
and Say,
“Oh, S#*t”

Bad Medicine.
Really, Really,
Really Bad

651

FACT :
A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine estimates that
hospitals make preventable medical errors
that kill as many as 98,000 people each year—more than cancer, AIDS, and auto accidents.
And not nearly as fun.

Tamar Nordenberg, “Make No Mistake: Medical Errors Can Be Deadly Serious,” FDA Consumer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, September-October 2000,
www.fda.gov
.

652

FACT :
Patients who endure errors in treatment while in hospital care typically face a
one in four chance of death
from the mistake.
Which means the staff who make the mistakes face a three in four chance of getting their asses kicked.

Tamar Nordenberg, “Make No Mistake: Medical Errors Can Be Deadly Serious,” FDA Consumer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, September-October 2000,
www.fda.gov
.

653

FACT :
Almost 250,000 patients studied by independent research group Health-Grades from 2003 and 2005 were
killed by preventable problems
.
The medical professionals at fault have kindly agreed to apologize to any of the patients they accidentally killed.

Tamar Nordenberg, “Make No Mistake: Medical Errors Can Be Deadly Serious,” FDA Consumer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, September-October 2000,
www.fda.gov
.

Dan Childs, “Medical Errors, Past and Present,” ABC News, November 27, 2007,
www.abcnews.com
.

654

FACT :
In 2007, a New York fertility doctor made headlines for
accidentally using the wrong man’s sperm
to inseminate a woman’s eggs. The Hispanic woman and her white husband realized the mistake upon giving birth to an African-American baby. Subsequent DNA tests confirmed that the baby was indeed another man’s.
Thank goodness they got those DNA tests. They might never have known for sure.

Todd Venezia, “Black Baby Is Born to White Pair,” New York Post, March 22, 2007.

Naomi Cahn, Test Tube Families: Why the Fertility Market Needs Legal Regulation (NYU Press, 2009), 68.

655

FACT :
According to Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimates, 1.5 million patients suffer each year because of
mistakes made with medicine they are given in hospitals
.
Yeah, like the time my doctor gave me Flomax instead of Flovent. For a week, every time I coughed, I peed my pants.

Dan Childs, “Medical Errors, Past and Present,” ABC News, November 27, 2007,
www.abcnews.com
.

Tamar Nordenberg, “Make No Mistake: Medical Errors Can Be Deadly Serious,” FDA Consumer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, September-October 2000,
www.fda.gov
.

656

FACT :
The IOM also estimates that 50 percent of bad reactions to medicine result from
errors in how they are administered
. Common causes are “environmental factors such as lighting, heat, noise, and interruptions that can distract health professionals from their medical tasks,” says The American Hospital Association.
Lighting? Heat? Noise? At least they aren’t easily distracted.

Dan Childs, “Medical Errors, Past and Present,” ABC News, November 27, 2007,
www.abcnews.com
.

Tamar Nordenberg, “Make No Mistake: Medical Errors Can Be Deadly Serious,” FDA Consumer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, September-October 2000,
www.fda.gov
.