Medical Errors Are The 3rd Most Common Cause Of Death And We Didn't Know For Years

There's a reason it takes so many years of training to become a doctor. Between the unpredictable medical problems a physician will be forced to deal with, the equally unpredictable hoursM and the nerve-wracking strain of medicine's most complicated procedures, it can be one of the world's hardest jobs. So it's no surprise that it can't always be done perfectly. 

Usually, an error will spring up when it comes time to diagnose a patient's affliction. Considering how many possible diseases can have similar symptoms, it understandable why a doctor would think their patient suffers from an allergy or asthma when they don't. It also makes sense that more complicated surgeries would invite the greater likelihood of making a mistake.

Sadly, sometimes there's no turning back from these errors. Whether it's one haunting false move or a tragic mischaracterization of the problem, patients can and do die from doctor mistakes.

Strangely, when it comes to determining the cause of death, there's no code for the role of medical error in someone's demise. This means the issue becomes severely underreported, making it impossible to find out how often it happens without independent research. 

Fortunately, such research was published in the BMJ, and the results are staggering.

Please COMMENT and let us know if you think we have a right to know how many people die from medical errors.

It turns out Medical Error is the third most common cause of death in the U.S. 

It's responsible for 400,000 deaths a year, putting it just behind cancer and heart disease as America's leading killer.

With all the ways it can happen, it makes sense that it would be so high.

One category they looked at was known as "errors of execution," where a doctor's skill failed them, or they made the wrong judgment call during a delicate procedure. 

In one such case, a needle accidentally punctured a patient's liver, causing an undetected rupture.

Other deaths seem to come from errors in planning.

Whether it comes from treating the wrong illness or pursuing the wrong treatment option, this can also lead to a patient's death if their condition requires an immediate response.

Sometimes it boils down to something as simple as a breakdown in communication.

If there's a lack of understanding between patient and doctor, this can also put the patient's well-being at risk.

So what can we do about it?

It's impossible to completely eliminate the problem of medical errors simply because we can't end human error in general. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to be done. 

First, researchers say we need to make medical errors more visible.

Ideas for this range from including a relevant field on death certificates to changing the cause of death codes to creating a culture of "speaking up" in the medical community.

After all, we can't hope to solve a problem if we don't have all the information we need to know where to start.

From there, hospitals can know how to respond if an error does occur.

Researchers suggest this should take the form of relief doctors or remedies to rescue the patient when something goes wrong.

From these steps, the medical community can create a culture of safety.

Hopefully, this will result in a decrease of deaths by medical error.

Please COMMENT and tell us what you think could help solve this problem.

Main image via Medscape

Collage image via Burning Pain Center