My father had a minor surgical procedure, they were told to watch for a bleed. He was bleeding internally, bp dropping, dropping, dropping, profuse sweating, heart rate increasing up to 220, sugar level spiking to 600, no urine output, confusion. The nurse was playing doctor and restrained him and let him lay there and pretty much bleed to death. In court, the hospital had an expert witness who teaches nursing at University of Tennessee who said under oath, it could have been caused because the room temperature was set too high ! This hospital doesn't do any harm, it's deemed, defended and supported as "your acceptable standard of health care". http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62 If you live in East Tennessee or Southwest Virginia, stay away from any Wellmont Health Care System.

This article is on a very important subject. Might it be that the efforts at patient safety need to focus not on the physician, but on the patient? The greatest strides in safety in other industries have come from when we focus on preventing the injury rather than preventing negligence.

Thanks

Lee Tilson

http://www.rethinkingpatientsafety.com/my-blog/2010/11/is-iatrogenic-injury-inevitable.html

Thank you for addressing this subject. 

Might it be the problem that the efforts to date have focused on the physician and negligence rather than the patient and the injury? Historically, the most effective steps in safety in other industries have come from focusing on preventing the injury rather than preventing negligence. 

Perhaps that lesson applies here as well.

Lee Tilson

http://www.rethinkingpatientsafety.com/my-blog/2010/11/is-iatrogenic-injury-inevitable.html