New Report Reveals Horrifying Dangers to Patients During Surgery

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Shapiro Law Group

A report released in the October edition of Anesthesiology claims medication errors are extremely common during surgical procedures. According to data, which was compiled by Harvard researchers, medication errors occur in half of all procedures. One-third of these mistakes caused harm to patients and 80 percent were preventable.

Researchers analyzed more than 275 surgeries at Massachusetts General Hospital and studied 3,671 administrations of medication. Mistakes made during procedures included labeling errors, drug documentation mistakes and incorrect dosing. Hospital staff also failed to treat changes in patient vital signs.

The scariest conclusion reached in this report is that Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the leading institutions on patient safety nationwide. This would allude to medication errors being a more acute problem at the majority of hospitals.

How Can Medication Errors During Surgery Affect Patient Safety?

What effects can medication errors have on patients? It depends on the mistake. In the case of incorrect dosage, patients can be given an inadequate amount of anesthetics. Patients can wake up during surgical procedures, causing panic, terror and lingering psychological problems.

In other cases, patients can receive medications that cause adverse reactions. According to data from the study, 2 percent of these adverse reactions were fatal and another 5 percent caused serious injuries.

Patients should never have to worry about death or permanent injuries from preventable medical mistakes. When visiting hospitals to undergo procedures, patients should have an assurance that they will not be harmed. It is an unfortunate circumstance that half of all surgical procedures involve errors, and it is unacceptable these mistakes should be allowed to continue.

Tags: HospitalSafety

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