"Surgical errors rise in Mass. despite new controls; Many preventable mistakes cited, but few of them caused serious harm" by Liz Kowalczyk | Globe Staff, July 07, 2013
Massachusetts hospitals are reporting more errors during surgery and invasive procedures, even after an intensive, decade-long campaign to reduce these mistakes — called “never events” because they’re preventable and, with reasonable precautions, simply shouldn’t happen....
Several of them said the reported number of such incidents is rising as more care shifts to outpatient clinics, procedure rooms, and physicians’ offices....
Where they charge you the hospital surgery rate.
Many of the errors driving the increase are the sort which some caregivers view as less serious — improperly inserting medication tubing or administering local anesthesia, for example, and not removing the wrong kidney or cutting into the wrong side of the brain. But these less harmful mistakes still can cause pain and anxiety for patients.
“They are uncomfortable and unnecessary for patients and should never happen, even though there is not permanent harm,’’ said Dr. Kenneth Sands, chief quality officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “People have become more sensitized and reporting is getting better for when these events occur.’’
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