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A 2006 study found that medication errors are among the most common medical mistakes, harming at least 1.5 million people every year. According to the study, 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals, 800,000 in long-term care settings, and roughly 530,000 among Medicare recipients in outpatient clinics.
The report was based upon analysis of multiple studies by a variety of organizations and concluded that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year as a result of preventable medical errors. For comparison, fewer than 50,000 people died of Alzheimer's disease and 17,000 died of illicit drug use in the same year. [1]
What was noteworthy was the impact on attitudes and organizations. Few healthcare professionals now doubt that preventable medical injuries are a serious problem. The central concept of the report—that bad systems and not bad people lead to most errors—became established in patients' safety efforts.
Medical errors kill scores of Americans. Women and minorities are more likely to receive a misdiagnosis, a recent study finds. Common medical errors kill scores each year in the U.S., especially ...
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By contrast, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s 2008 statistics list only causes of death, and not the underlying risk factors. In 2001, on average 29,000 children died of preventable causes each day (that is, about 20 deaths per minute). The authors provide the context: About 56 million people died in 2001.
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A 2004 study of medical malpractice claims in the United States examining primary care malpractice found that though incidence of negligence in hospitals produced a greater proportion of severe outcomes, the total number of errors and deaths due to errors were greater for outpatient settings. No single medical condition was associated with more ...