The "Epidemic" of Injury From Preventable Medical Errors

An enormous number of people die each year due to preventable medical errors--enough to more than wipe out the entire population of the City of New Orleans every year.  The Journal of Patient Safety reports that more than 400,000 people die each year from medical errors.  Even the conservative Forbes magazine notes that "[w]hen we don’t demand safety, [hospitals] don’t supply it."  

Where is the outcry from the public and from politicians?  Why do we hear politicians advocating efforts to limit an injured patient's right to sue healthcare providers instead of trying to fix the problem?  Americans are more than ten times more likely to die from a preventable medical error than they are to die on the highways.

But the same report cites a statistic that is even more stunning--the rate of serious injuries resulting from preventable medical errors may be as much at 20 time higher than the death rate.  Each year, the number of people in the U.S. suffering serious injuries from preventable medical errors may be approaching the entire population of New York City.