Medical errors in Canadian hospitals lead to 9000 - 24,000 deaths every year

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 24 May 2004 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

A new study says that preventable medical errors in Canadian hospitals lead to thousands of deaths every year.

Experts say that the totals, when taking into account population size and the numbers of patients in hospitals, are not that different from preventable medical error percentages and subsequent deaths in the USA, Great Britain and New Zealand.

Dr. Foster, a Canadian Hospital Director, says that people should be aware of this. Otherwise, the population will get so alarmed that many sick people will stop going to hospital for treatment.

The number of deaths would be much greater if people did not go to hospital for treatment.

According to this new study, 7.5% of patients in the year 2,000 had an adverse event. An adverse event here means a complication or accidental injury.

Out of the 2.5 million people who are admitted into hospital every year in Canada, about 9000 - 24,000 people died as a result of preventable adverse events (medical errors), says the study.

The authors of the study went on to say that many of the patients who died were very old and very ill.

• Additional
• References
• Citations