Tips to avoid medical mistakes
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Good article today on CNN with tips patients and their families can take to help reduce the chances of surgical errors. Remember the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Patients becoming their own advocates is especially important these days here in Texas, where “tort reform” has made it next to impossible to pursue legal claims against a doctor or hospital for medical malpractice. Lawmakers stripped away patients’ rights but forgot to do anything to help reduce malpractice in the first place. And with the for-profit hospitals cutting staff and jamming patients into OR’s and the doctors having to see more patients to make up for the discounted fees the insurance companies force on them, patients and their families need to be as proactive as possible to avoid errors.
