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| Hospital
Complications Take Huge Toll |
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-MSNBC/AP |
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CHICAGO, Oct. 7 —
Postoperative infections, surgical wounds accidentally opening and
other often-preventable complications lead to more than 32,000
U.S. hospital deaths and more than $9 billion in extra costs
annually, a report suggests.
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Researchers from the U.S.
government’s Agency for Healthcare Research analyzed data on 18
complications sometimes caused by medical errors. They found that
such complications contribute to 2.4 million extra days in the
hospital each year. The findings greatly underestimate the
problem, since many other complications happen that are not listed
in hospital administrative data, the researchers said.
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The study follows a 1999 Institute of
Medicine report that said medical mistakes kill anywhere from
44,000 to 98,000 hospitalized Americans a year. That report
focused national attention on the problem and led to numerous
recommendations for improving safety.
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The new report, based
on data from 994 hospitals nationwide in 2000, provides a more
detailed look at specific complications and the costs associated
with each one.
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Many of the 18
complications, including medical objects left inside patients
after surgery, are preventable medical errors. Some, like bleeding
after surgery, might not always be avoidable, said Dr. Chunliu
Zhan of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Zhan
did the research with Dr. Marlene Miller, now at Johns Hopkins
Children’s Center.
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The study was
published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical
Association.
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“Given their
staggering magnitude, these estimates are clearly sobering,”
Drs. Saul Weingart and Lisa Iezzoni of Harvard’s Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center said in an accompanying editorial.
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The most serious
complication was post-surgery sepsis — bloodstream infections
— which occurred in 2,592 patients. Sepsis resulted in 11 extra
days of hospitalization and $57,727 in extra costs per patient,
plus a 22 percent higher risk of death.
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Improved medical
practices, including an emphasis on better hand-washing, might
help reduce the rates, Zhan said.
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Surgical wound
openings were the second most serious complication, resulting in
nine extra days of hospitalization, $40,323 in extra costs and a
nearly 10 percent higher death rate.
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Zhan said the figures
do not capture all complication-related costs.
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For example, one
common injury — trauma during vaginal childbirth without use of
forceps or other instruments — resulted in virtually no extra
hospitalization costs or deaths but probably led to other
complications in mothers or their infants, the researchers said.
There were 51,223 such injuries studied.
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Zhan said his study
does not answer whether progress has been made since the 1999
Institute of Medicine report.
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His agency is among
many working on reducing medical errors and complications. Among
other things, the agency recently developed a fact sheet listing
steps patients can take to get safer treatment, including
questioning doctors about what to expect from surgery and asking
about which hospital would be best for their particular condition.
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