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195,000 patients die yearly due to medical error, study finds

Physician Practice Advisor, July 27, 2004

An average of 195,000 patients die every year from preventable hospital errors-twice as many as were estimated in an Institute of Medicine study released in 2000, according to a HealthGrades study released this week and reviewed on the Kaiser Family Foundation Web site.

This study marks the first time that "failure to rescue" errors have been included in a medical error count. The failure to rescue category covers mistakes in diagnosing and treating illness that happen following an operation, such as pneumonia. Other preventable deaths counted included:

  • bed sores that led to infection
  • postoperative infection
  • postoperative embolism 
  • respiratory failure

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