Hospital Safety Matters
Patients who are hospitalized for pneumonia at a low-scoring facility were 67 percent more likely to die within 30 days of admission than pneumonia patients at a top-scoring hospital, according to the Consumer Reports analysis. Of 1,000 surgical patients who develop a serious surgical complication in a top-rated hospital, 87 or fewer die, compared to more than 132 in a low-rated one — a 52 percent higher fatality risk. (Reuters)
Hint: Don’t get care at Bolivar Medical Center in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Eek.
“In 2011, 722,000 annual hospital-acquired infections alone killed 75,000 patients, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.”
oh fantastic. Outdoor hospitals please
Might not be a bad idea to switch back to!
Don’t get me wrong, hospital-acquired infections are a big problem, though a 10% across-the-board mortality rate attributable to the infection doesn’t pass the smell test. Roughly 1/3 of hospital acquired infections are urinary tract infections and 25% surgical site infections-both with much lower mortality rates. Also not included in many media reports on the CDC report: “it is impossible to tell from the data how many deaths were directly attributable to the acquired infection, said Michael Bell, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion” (quoted from The Washington Post). Many such “fatal” infections are almost certainly part of the final pathway in otherwise terminal patients.
But we’ve got Obamacare now! It’ll fix all of this.
Yes, ObamaCare, the cure to all of our woes!
Next step world peace…
That sounds more possible than ObamaCare not making our country bankrupt
Since I don’t participate in Obamacare, I get a free choice of any hospital in the country or in the world.
Right now, I’m being treated here in Rio de Janeiro. More fun, too, than Peoria. Poor Obamacare suckers not only pay premiums through the nose, but also are limited to medical providers in their county, unless they pay even more!!!
Make sure you stay for the World cup and Olympics
What a coincidence, those also bankrupt countries
Yeah, Brazil especially does not seem to like them
Remind me to stay out of low scoring facilities
Pneumonia is the silent killer though
Both sound awful
About 10 years ago I read a report of hospital mortality after cardiac surgery in California. One or two hospitals suffered no deaths that year (i.e. 0%). The state average was 2.9%, right at the national average. One hospital in particular has a mortality rate of around 12%. There may have been some plausible explanations. But I still wouldn’t want to get surgery at that facility.