Re: KNOWN *DELIBERATE* MISTAKES* FRAUD, $$$$ A OK, SHHHHHH


"Mark Probert" <markprobert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:31LQe.20162$KX7.13186@xxxxxxxxxxx
> LadyLollipop wrote:
>> http://www.newsinferno.com/storypages/8-02-2005~003.html
>>
>>
>> President Signs Law Creating National Database on Medical Errors -
>
> Good idea. Perhaps patterns wil emerge which can be addressed.

Ummm. PAST REPEATED PATTERNS ADDRESSED ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!!!


>
> Now, we have to have a law creating a national databse on alternative
> medicine adverse events.

Ummm, NO, The PAST REPEATED PATTERNS HAVE NOT BEEN FIXED!!!!!!!!!
>
>
> Critics
>> Believe Under-Reporting Will Continue
>> Date Published: August 2, 2005
>> Source: Newsinferno.com News Staff
>>
>>
>> In an effort to reduce medical errors and improve safety, President Bush
>> signed into law bill S 544 creating a national patient safety database.
>>
>>
>> The intent of the legislation is to encourage health care providers to
>> report errors to safety organizations which can analyze trends and create
>> proposals to help prevent similar mistakes from occurring in the future.
>>
>>
>> The data which will be available will not identify specific patients,
>> health
>> care providers, or individuals who report problems and it cannot be used
>> against providers as evidence in malpractice suits, other litigation, or
>> by
>> accrediting bodies or regulators.
>>
>>
>> The President stated that " by providing doctors with information about
>> what
>> treatments work and what treatments cause problems, we will reduce
>> medical
>> errors that injure and cause the deaths of thousands of Americans each
>> year."
>>
>>
>> Reaction to the legislation, which passed the Senate on July 21 and the
>> House on July 27, was mixed. For example, J. Edward Hill, president of
>> the
>> American Medical Association , said the law is "the catalyst we need to
>> transform the current culture of blame and punishment into one of open
>> communication and prevention."
>>
>>
>> Dr. Hill added, "Future errors can be avoided as we learn from past
>> mistakes. This law strikes the proper balance between confidentiality and
>> the need to ensure responsibility throughout the health care system."
>>
>>
>> Critics, however, argued that the law should have included federal
>> penalties
>> for medical errors and that it does not guarantee that providers will
>> report
>> mistakes.
>>
>>
>> Margaret Van Amringe, vice president for public policy and government
>> relations for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
>> Organizations ( JCAHO), said "There's no incentive to report useful
>> information if you know it is going to be used against you. If you don't
>> have the information then you are not going to solve the problem."
>>
>>
>> To further address these concerns JCAHO said it might be one of the
>> groups
>> responsible creating a subsidiary "patient safety organization."
>>
>>
>> Reporting of errors has always been a serious problem within the medical
>> community. There are several reasons for this including: (1) exposure to
>> civil liability; (2) exposure to governmental sanctions and penalties;
>> (3)
>> licensing problems associated with most documented errors; (4) loss of
>> revenue and/or reputation especially with respect to hospitals or other
>> medical facilities.
>>
>>
>> In January of 2003, the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) reported
>> that
>> just 5% of U.S. doctors are responsible for 54% of all malpractice. Yet
>> even
>> after a doctor has been found liable for malpractice, there is no
>> guarantee
>> that he or she will be penalized in any way with respect to practicing
>> medicine.
>>
>>
>> In fact, only a small percentage of the worst doctors have their licenses
>> suspended and even fewer have their licenses revoked. The rest are either
>> shifted around (similar to the way in which priests who were known to
>> have
>> abused children were simply transferred to other parishes) or move to
>> another community in the same or another state.
>>
>>
>> In any event, such "problem" doctors have no difficulty in continuing to
>> practice medicine. Doctors have even been known to move to other
>> countries
>> in order to continue practicing medicine when their ability to do so in
>> the
>> United States has been compromised as a result of extremely serious
>> infractions.
>>
>>
>> It is well known in the medical profession itself that doctors are not
>> always inclined to report their errors, or those of their colleagues, for
>> a
>> number of reasons. These include: (a) the desire to escape punishment;
>> (b)
>> the unwillingness to admit their negligence; (c) the belief that
>> protecting
>> a colleague will somehow ensure the same degree of loyalty from that
>> person
>> when and if the tables are turned; (d) fear of retribution from one or
>> more
>> superiors; (e) a reluctance to bring one's hospital into disrepute; and
>> (f)
>> sheer arrogance.
>>
>>
>> This routine lack of accountability for medical errors is the main reason
>> why they remain so prevalent and continue to be a threat throughout this
>> country and the world.
>>
>>
>> In 2001, the JCAHO announced certain standards for medical practice in
>> hospitals in the United States including working actively to prevent
>> medical
>> errors, designing patient safety systems, and encouraging and acting on
>> internal reports of errors. Creating a standard and actually having
>> doctors
>> follow it are two entirely different matters, however.
>>
>>
>> In the last decade, 84% of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and
>> 60%
>> of hospitals failed to report medical errors to the government, allowing
>> many health care professionals to literally get away with murder. Many
>> experts see this disregard of reporting requirements as being as close to
>> having a "license to kill" as you can come without being James Bond.
>>
>>
>> Consider the recent case of Charles Cullen, a registered nurse who may
>> have
>> killed as many as 40 patients at 10 hospitals in New Jersey and
>> Pennsylvania
>> over the course of 16 years.
>>
>>
>> Although Mr. Cullen was investigated on a number of occasions with
>> respect
>> to misusing potentially lethal drugs and was fired or allowed to resign
>> from
>> a number of hospitals, he was permitted to "hopscotch" from hospital to
>> hospital without the slightest difficulty.
>>
>>
>> The penalty for failing to report errors may include the removal of legal
>> protections from the government, yet this penalty is rarely imposed.
>> While
>> information on incompetent doctors is supposed to be listed in the NPDB,
>> oftentimes reportable incidents fail to make it any further than the
>> hospital they occurred at.
>>
>>
>> The doctors involved are simply given a slap on the wrist and then
>> permitted
>> to return to their duties. A new debate has arisen as to whether the
>> information on the NPDB should be available to the public. Of course
>> doctors
>> are strongly opposed to such an idea, claiming that once a malpractice
>> claim
>> is filed, their record will be tainted even if that claim is
>> unsuccessful.
>>
>>
>> In New York, for example, the Department of Health (DOH) has been
>> criticized
>> for failing to revoke medical licenses in appropriate situations. One
>> cause
>> of this, however, may be the fact that New York City hospitals have been
>> repeatedly cited as being the worst in the state for reporting medical
>> errors, even those resulting in death, to the DOH.
>>
>>
>> In 2001, the state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Antonia C. Novello,
>> stated:
>> "People are not unemployable just because they have made a mistake, but
>> when
>> you break the trust of the public good, I don't think you should be able
>> to
>> practice." Yet doctors who have made mistake after mistake are still
>> practicing and still making preventable medical errors. In fact, more
>> than
>> 75% of doctors who were disciplined in the past 8 years began working
>> again
>> after they were punished by the state.
>>
>>
>> What is missing here is a clear and concise plan explaining how hospitals
>> should handle problematic doctors and preventable medical errors. Also
>> missing is a uniform system which provides information on previously
>> disciplined medical professionals so that subsequent employers are aware
>> of
>> their past record.
>>
>>
>> Such a system would have saved many patients from being killed by Charles
>> Cullen in New Jersey and Pennsylvania between 1987 and 2003.
>>
>>
>> As is often the case, money is also part of the problem. Simply stated,
>> no
>> medical facility wants to get rid of a good earner and, as luck would
>> have
>> it, doctors with disciplinary problems are often among the top third of
>> moneymakers at their given hospitals.
>>
>>
>> Doctors who are consistent and plentiful income producers are often
>> praised
>> for their ability to provide a constant patient stream to the hospital
>> while
>> actually avoiding punishment for any questionable practices resulting in
>> preventable medical errors.
>>
>>
>> In this regard, consider the chilling situation that occurred at Redding
>> Medical Center in California. One particular cardiologist was
>> single-handedly responsible for making his small, rural hospital one of
>> the
>> most lucrative business enterprises for its owner, Tenet Healthcare.
>>
>>
>> Unfortunately, the doctor was only able to do this by intentionally
>> making
>> false diagnoses of heart-related problems in order to justify performing
>> hundreds, if not thousands, of unnecessary procedures and surgeries.
>>
>>
>> While other staff members were suspicious of the goings on at the
>> hospital,
>> their concerns were dismissed by their superiors until the scheme was
>> exposed by one patient, a 55-year-old reverend, who sought a second
>> opinion
>> after he was told he needed emergency triple bypass surgery.
>>
>>
>> A highly qualified cardiologist was shocked by the diagnosis and told the
>> patient that his heart was in perfect shape. Federal agents raided the
>> hospital and Tenet was eventually forced to pay $54 million in penalties
>> for
>> the unnecessary heart procedures.
>>
>>
>> This, however, does not change the fact that this single doctor was a
>> staple
>> at the Redding Medical Center for almost two decades and was being
>> protected
>> by his superiors who were only concerned with the enormous annual revenue
>> he
>> produced and not the quality or legitimacy of his practice.
>>
>>
>> Thus, it remains to be seen if a reporting system without any real teeth
>> will be able to take a significant bite out of the problem of medical
>> errors.
>>

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