Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Re:Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of ... by thegasman on Wednesday May 11, 2016 @01:08PM (#11677104)

Note the paper's definition of medical error: "Medical error has been defined as an unintended act (either of omission or commission) or one that does not achieve its intended outcome,3 the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended (an error of execution), the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (an error of planning),4 or a deviation from the process of care that may or may not cause harm to the patient."

That's quite broad

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Re:Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of ... by slg on Wednesday May 11, 2016 @02:04PM (#11677675)

This disclaimer needs to be included in any conversation about this study. In the same week that John Oliver ranted on the dangers of misleading scientific studies[1] we see headlines like "Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of death in the U.S." with no mention of the fact that this study qualifies an "error" as anytime a doctor isn't a perfect healing machine.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rnq1NpHdmw

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Re:Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of ... by darawk on Wednesday May 11, 2016 @01:19PM (#11677206)

Is it? Those all seem like pretty reasonable types of error. Ultimately they have to have contributed to the death of a patient to be included. If one of those things contributed to someone's death, I don't think i'd hesitate to call that a 'medical error'.

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Re:Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of ... by gpm on Wednesday May 11, 2016 @01:24PM (#11677242)

> one that does not achieve its intended outcome

I struggle to see how there are any deaths inside a hospital that don't fall into this category. E.g. a cancer patient on chemo therapy who doesn't make it would seem to qualify.

Realistically I assume this means that they count whatever they want as medical error, with no good rules.

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Re:Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of ... by surfaceTensi0n on Wednesday May 11, 2016 @01:36PM (#11677385)

I don't think your example would qualify unless a real error was made e.g. the chemo killed them so there was a planning error in putting them on chemo. The truth is that many people with cancer will not survive. In those cases, chemo is not about saving their lives, just extending them.

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Re:Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of ... by aptwebapps on Thursday May 12, 2016 @06:16AM (#11682441)

You're saying what it should be but the parent comments are talking about what it actually says. Specifically, "one that does not achieve its intended outcome".

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Re:Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of ... by surfaceTensi0n on Thursday May 12, 2016 @01:47PM (#11685334)

I'm arguing that the "intended outcome" isn't always complete recovery. If a patient with terminal cancer dies, that doesn't necessarily mean that the chemo didn't achieve its intended outcome.

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