WHO patient safety chairman: Hospitals more dangerous than airplanes
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
November 30, 2005
Patients in a hospital face a far larger risk of death than passengers in an airplane, according to Liam Donaldson, World Health Organization (WHO) World Alliance for Patient Safety chairman. The statistical difference can't be explained by the number of sick people who enter the hospital, according to a Reuters article.Patients in the hospital have a one in 300 chance of dying, while flight passengers have a one in 10 million chance of dying. According to Donaldson, the chances of hospital death are unacceptably high.
He advocated hospitals follow the lead of other high risk industries, like the air industry, and adopt standards to improve safety. Those industries have spent decades to reduce preventable deaths, with great success.
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