It sounds like the kind of thing you might see on a pulse-pounding episode of
ER: Maybe a preoccupied technician puts adult-strength medicine into a cabinet, and an overworked nurse grabs it and injects it into a premature baby, and the infant dies, causing hand-wringing and soul-searching and despair among our telegenic but imperfect medical heroes. But unfortunately, this story is all too real:
Three premature infants have died so far and three more are in danger after receiving adult-size doeses of the blood-thinner heparin in a case of
"human error" on the part of hospital personnel. This sort of incident isn't all that unusual, either. An Institute of Medicine report several years ago spelled out just how common medical errors are, taking the lives of between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans a year and affecting untold thousands more in ways that aren't fatal or aren't easily traced to mistakes. For parents of children who spend more time than most in doctor's offices and laboratories and hospitals, those statistics are all the more chilling. Has your child ever been the victim of a medical mistake? Pick an answer from the poll at right, or select "other" and explain yourself in the comments.
Comments
After browsing for organizations that are for parents of children who have been victims of medical mistakes, I would like to add that as long as there is a statutory cap of $250K for tort reform which to my understanding was passed in California in 1972 and lobbied hard by the medical community, it’s unlikely for attornies to try these kinds of cases and nothing will improve. Babies will keep on dying, with no accountability for those who are supposed to be caring for those tiny fragile lives. Not that I’m a big fan of litigation, but it’s the only way a parent can seek the truth because of how well these mistakes are hidden from the record. Government agencies with the jurisdiction over hospitals and doctors appear reluctant to be the trier of facts, therefore they don’t really help. Until people discover firsthand what it is to be a victim of a potential medical mistake, this problem will never be properly addressed, and reform will never take place. JACHO has been a leading proponent of hospitals taking responsibility and issuing an apology. I know in my case, it probably would have been a better choice than spending a year trying to find answers and hold people accountable. Good luck for all those sad parents who don’t get their answers for why their child died unexpectedly. While the parents of the premies that received overdoses of heparin, now live with the pain of what happened, at least there is closure. Is it only when bad things happen to a lot of people that people take notice? A very sad situation, and one that has almost destroyed our family.