| Ilena Rose 2005-11-19, 5:57 pm |
| USA Leads the World ... In Medical Errors
Medical Errors
Based on a comparison of health care systems in six nations, the 2005
Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey found that
America led
the rest in inefficient care and medical errors.
Improper Treatment 34 Percent of the Time
Researchers interviewed patients who had a serious condition that
required
intense medical treatment or had been admitted to a hospital for a
condition other than a routine pregnancy.
* Patients in this country received the wrong medication,
inaccurate or
delayed test results, and improper treatment 34 percent of the time.
* A third of the patients polled reported higher rates of
disorganized
care in their physician's offices.
* Americans also spent more on medical expenses than those in the
other
countries, with more than half unable to see a doctor or take
prescribed
medicines.
12 Percent Spread
The spread between the United States and countries with lower error
rates
was fairly wide, with a 12 percent difference between Britain, which
had
the lowest rate of errors, and the United States. The American rate
was
driven up by fairly frequent test and medication errors.
<http://content.healthaffairs.org/cg...haff.w5.509/DC1>Health
Affairs November 3, 2005
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051103/hl_nm/errors_dc>Yahoo News
November 3,
2005
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Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Medical errors are a large reason why the current fatally flawed
medical
paradigm is in such desperate need of transformation. You know the
system
needs changing when the majority of health care workers observe
mistakes
made by their peers but
<http://www.mercola.com/2005/feb/9/h...re_mistakes.htm>rarely do
anything to challenge them.
Other clues that the system is broken are that the
<http://www.mercola.com/2004/may/26/doctors_death.htm>death rate
actually
decreases when doctors go on strike, and deaths blamed on mistakes
made
with prescription drugs sold at pharmacies
<http://www.mercola.com/2005/jan/19/...tion_deaths.htm>spike at
the
beginning of each month.
The sad tragedy is that
<http://www.mercola.com/2000/jul/30/doctors_death.htm>the conventional
medical paradigm is fatally flawed. The United States is spending $2
trillion every year for a system that is based on disease management
focused on drugs and surgery that fail to address the underlying cause
of
disease.
Additionally, clever manipulation of the official government death
rates
conceals the fact that
<http://www.mercola.com/2003/jan/15/doctors_drugs.htm>the conventional
medical system, not heart disease or cancer, is the leading cause of
death
in this country. Yet, in all fairness, physicians themselves are not
the
primary reason, as they are under the pernicious influence of the
multi-billion-dollar marketing umbrella of the drug companies.
Our return on this investment is profoundly poor. The bottom line is
that
<http://www.mercola.com/2003/mar/8/healthcare.htm>the system is
crumbling
before your eyes. The very economic stability of the United States is
threatened by this abuse. The good news is that the expense and misery
can
be powerful motivating factors to change.
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