Study: 250,000 preventable deaths occurred between 2003 and 2005
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
April 4, 2007
A new HealthGrades study shows that there were 247,662 potentially preventable deaths in
The study identified 1.16 million errors in the 40.56 million Medicare case records reviewed. The result was $8.6 billion in extra expenses for hospitals. Top-performing hospitals made an average of 40% fewer errors than the poorest performers.
Post-operative sepsis and respiratory failure saw the biggest increases over the three-year period, respectively, while decubitus ulcers, post-operative respiratory failure, and failure to rescue had the highest incidence rates.
