Meds Mixup

People go to the hospital to get well, not get sick. But the Institute For Healthcare Improvement says 40,000 medical mistakes happen every day in this country. A new report suggests the situation isnt getting much better. This new report comes from Healthgrades, which rates hospitals then sends in paid consultants to help them improve. It reviewed the governments Medicare data to figure out which hospitals are making sick patients even sicker. Healthgrades reports nearly a million hospital bad outcomes across the country from 2006 to 2008. The most common mistakes, failure to rescue patients from complications, bed sores, respiratory failure after operations and sepsis - whole body infections. Blood clots were also common. "A blood clot in the lung that breaks loose usually from your legs, goes up and it stops the circulation cold in your chest and basically kills you within seconds," said Dr. Rick May of Healthgrades. Healthgrades reports most of the 99,000 people who died, died as a direct result of these complications. Whats not clear is how often the hospital is to blame, after all, these are the sickest patients. The American Hospital Association says quote, "We are continually mindful of the need to get better at safer care. This is a critically important issue." But the association argues its data, direct from patient medical records, is more accurate. Healthgrades says most of the best hospitals are in the Midwest. Dr. Peter Pronovost did a study there, pushing nurses to make sure doctors are washing their hands, to prevent infections. "The nurses responses were: its not my job to police the doctors. If I do Im gonna get my head bit off. the doctors said: Peter, theres no way a nurse could question me in public - it makes me look like I dont know something," said Pronovost of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Healthgrades says ignoring patient safety isnt just dangerous, its expensive, costing nearly 9 billion dollars a year.