State Won’t Say Which Hospitals Made Mistakes

(Allentown Morning Call:  Published 07/19/2016, Keppler, Nick, Web)

“Last year, 253 people in Pennsylvania died under circumstances for which a medical professional may have been responsible. The state knows where these deaths happen — which hospitals, care homes and other medical facilities — but it doesn’t allow you to know.  The agency tasked with keeping data on medical errors and related issues is the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority. It collects hundreds of thousands of reports a year from designated safety officers of medical facilities. Ninety-seven percent of the roughly 239,000 incidents recorded in 2015 were “near misses,” lapses in safety protocol that were noticed, but did not harm a patient. More than 7,700 reports recounted “serious events,” in which a patient was harmed. More than half of these cases were complications related to procedures, treatments and tests. Medication error, adverse drug reactions and patient falls, among other issues, made up the rest.”

Call the experienced attorneys at Liever, Hyman & Potter, P.C., if you or a family member was injured by a medical error.  Consultation is free.  We can obtain the records if we investigate the case.

By Michael W. McGuckin, Esquire, Attorney for the Reading, Pennsylvania Personal Injury Law Firm of Liever, Hyman & Potter, P.C., which limits their practice to medical malpractice, car, truck and motorcycle accidents, wrongful death, premises liability, nursing home neglect, and work injuries.  Serving Berks, Schuylkill and surrounding counties for over 50 years.

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