Oprah Investigates medical malpractice
My wife loves the Oprah show. She DVR’s the program and watches it (almost) every night. Tonight she asked me to watch todays show about Medical Errors.
100,000 Americans 24,000 Canadians Die Every Year
Oprah and one of her regulars, Dr. Oz turned a spot light on a problem that kills more than 100,000 American’s each year, medical malpractice. A study recently published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal determined that up to 24,000 patients in Canadian hospitals die each year and many more left injured as a result of preventable medical errors.
Dennis Quaid Interviewed
Oprah interviewed Dennis Quaid who talked about the ordeal he and his wife went through when their 12 day old twins were overdosed with Heparin.
Smart Patient Checklist
Dr. Oz described a checklist to tell patients what they can do to help prevent them from becoming victims of medical malpractice.
Checklist Prevents Deaths
I have already posted about how a Simple Checklist Helps Prevent Deaths and Complications after Surgery . Certain hospitals have reduced surgical deaths by more than 40% simply by using a checklist before surgery to make sure that they are operating on the correct patient or operating on the right site.
Will the Oprah Effect Kick In?
I hope that the Oprah Effect kicks in after todays show. I believe that medical malpractice is one of the most serious, yet under reported, health problems in North America. The problem is that most people who suffer a medical error have no idea they may have been the victim of medical malpractice.
Doctors Don’t Have to Disclose Errors!
Unbelievably, there is no law in Canada that requires doctors, nurses, or hospitals to tell patients when they have been the victim of medical malpractice.
Want to know what to do if you think you have been a victim of medical malpractice? Keep reading…
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