Medical Errors are Third Leading Cause of Death

A new study has found medical errors to be the third leading cause of death in the United States, just behind heart disease and cancer.

Doctors and researchers from the University School of Medicine conducted a study in which they discovered that some 250,000 hospital patients lose their lives each year as a result of medical errors. What's even more alarming, however, is that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not classify fatalities related to medical errors differently on death certificates; therefore, the actual number of deaths is likely much higher.

More specifically, researchers found that 9.5% of all deaths in the U.S. are related to hospital errors that could otherwise have been prevented. As one doctor points out, complications are bound to arise in the medical field. All invasive surgical procedures come with their own inherit risks, some of which are major while others are smaller.

"There's no such thing as a perfect surgery, that nothing's going to go wrong. There's no such thing as any procedure that doesn't have side effects with it. And that's why I always encourage patients, before you go in, know what's supposed to happen, what could happen, and understand what you need to do to follow up with that because we're a team, the doctor and the patients are a team, need to work together,” said medical expert Dr. John Torres.

But there are ways to reduce the number fatalities caused by medical errors. For starters, human error is believed to be a primary risk factor associated with medical error fatalities, which is often triggered by fatigue. Healthcare workers are often required to work long shifts, sometimes as long as 12 hours. This can subsequently lead to fatigue and slower reaction times, both of which can prove deadly in the medical settings.

Researchers from this study have since called on the CDC to take action by implementing new rules and regulations in an effort to reduce the number of fatalities caused by medical errors. The CDC currently does not have a system in place to record and report fatalities caused my medical errors.

This study was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).