Medical Errors Costing U.S. Billions

Mistakes resulted in 238,337 preventable deaths from 2004-06, survey finds

-- Robert Preidt

TUESDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- From 2004 through 2006, patient safety errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of U.S. Medicare patients and cost the Medicare program $8.8 billion, according to the fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study.

This analysis of 41 million Medicare patient records, released April 8 by HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization, found that patients treated at top-performing hospitals were, on average, 43 percent less likely to experience one or more medical errors than patients at the poorest-performing hospitals.

The overall medical error rate was about 3 percent for all Medicare patients, which works out to about 1.1 million patient safety incidents during the three years included in the analysis.

» Read the full article from MSN Health & Fitness

A Kinnard, Clayton & Beveridge Case involving Trey Jones, pictured below, was recently featured on the Front Page of USA Today

Pharmacy policies can lead to errors (USA Today): Read more

When Tabitha Jones picked up her stepson's medicine at a Walgreens store in Springfield in 2004, she had no way to know the pharmacy was so busy that its manager had asked for more staffing months earlier to "decrease the pharmacist's stress."

New Tennessee Medical Malpractice Laws: Read more

Speed, high volume can trigger mistakes (The Tennessean): Read more

State nursing homes trying to limit liability: Read more

Currently, the billion dollar nursing home industry is trying to increase its profits by limiting it liability. "This bill is wrong," says Daniel Clayton. "They call it the "Nursing Home Patient Protection Act, but there is not one word in this bill that protects nursing home residents. Instead, the nursing home industry wants to protect its profits. This past year, National Healthcare Corporation out of Murfreesboro posted a net profit of over 43 million dollars. Can't that corporation use some of this money to improve care? This is the same corporation that was in charge of the nursing home in Nashville where 16 residents died and 14 others were injured in a fire in September 2003. Over the past 3 years, there have been an increased number of suspensions and and increased number of immediate jeopardy violations. Instead of responding by improving resident care, this nursing home industry wants to strip away and limit the rights of families to hold nursing home corporations accountable, in order for the nursing home corporations to add to its profits."

Daniel Clayton elected President of the Tennessee Association for Justice: Read more

Daniel Clayton gives presentations in Atlanta, Georgia and Gatlinburg, Tennessee: Read more
Lawmakers delay judicial selection review: Read more

The Nashville personal injury and medical malpractice law firm of Kinnard, Clayton & Beveridge, Attorneys at Law serves clients throughout Tennessee in communities such as Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Jackson, Johnson City, Franklin, Hendersonville, Bartlett, Cleveland, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, Lebanon, Brentwood, Springfield, Dickson, Davidson County, Shelby County, Knox County, Hamilton County, Rutherford County, Williamson County, Robertson County, Cheatham County, Maury County and Montgomery County. We also serve clients in Alabama and Kentucky. AL, KY