Medicine:  The Leading Cause of Injury &  Death

Hospital hazards

Not all hospitals are created equal Even if you haven't been a reader of mine for a long time, you may have heard before that medicine itself is a leading cause of injury and death - but if you've been reading for any length of time at all, you already know that it's the THIRD LEADING cause of death in the U.S. (see Daily Dose, 3/18 and 4/15/2003). When you add up things like drug interactions, errors in medication administration (like giving patients the wrong dosages of drugs), sloppily written prescription slips resulting in the wrong drugs being given, stupid surgical errors (like leaving forceps or sponges inside patients) caused by bleary-eyed doctors working 24-hour shifts, and about a million other things, what you end up with is this: A common-sense warning to steer clear of the hospital unless absolutely necessary. Another item on the list of ways that medicine can kill you (and one more reason to stay away from major medical centers) is that contrary to their squeaky-clean image, hospitals are far from sterile places. In fact, they're among the most hazardous of climes with regard to infections. Remember, hospitals are where all the sick people are, which means they're where all the GERMS are. But what's even more disturbing than this is the fact that hospitals can expose you to different germs than what you'd come into contact with in the outside world. Because bacteria can mutate so quickly, those that linger in hospitals can develop into distinct variants that can have a strong resistance to antibiotics. That makes them much more lethal than the garden-variety microbes you're exposed to every day out in the world. According to a recent CBSNews.com report, more than 2 million infections are acquired in U.S. hospitals every year, with about 90,000 of these patients ending up in the morgue. That's nearly twice as many American deaths per year as were killed by our enemies in the entire Vietnam conflict. The problem has gotten so bad that some states are mulling legislative measures to require hospitals to disclose their annual rates of care-acquired infections, which would allow consumers to "shop around" and choose a facility less likely to kill them in the course of curing them. Missouri already has a new disclosure law in effect, and 30 other states are considering variations on the theme. **************************************************** Don't let the BED bite As if surgical mistakes, drug interactions, and killer mutant antibiotic-proof monster bacteria weren't enough to worry about after checking into the hospital... Now you've got to worry about the beds! Adding one more bizarre item to the list of iatrogenic (medically caused) ways to die, the FDA has recently ordered a detachment of U.S. Marshals to seize 3 different models of one manufacturer's style of enclosed hospital beds. Why? According to a recent CNN.com article, it's because at least 30 patients nationwide have been trapped by the beds - 7 of them ending up dead as a result! According to the CNN piece, the agency claims the beds are dangerous to use as the label recommends (that may be the understatement of the year), and that they come with insufficient warnings and instructions for use. The manufacturer, Vail Products of Ohio, has so far been uncooperative, refusing to turn over requested information and other materials vital for the investigation, the FDA says. The beds under scrutiny are the Vail Products models 500, 1000, and 2000. Before you check in for even a routine procedure (or let a loved one do the same), lift up the bed covers in the recovery room and take a look at the bed... Before it eats you or someone you care about. Eschewing the mainstream's "hospital"-ity, William Campbell Douglass II, MD