Did you know that those estimates do not take into account prescription errors written in doctors' offices, nor do they consider the over 30 million outpatient surgeries and procedures done every year in this country?
No doubt these are frightening statistics, so when you or a loved one must have major surgery you might consider playing the odds to reduce the chance of a medical error.
There is a great deal of medical research that seems to suggest that physicians and hospitals that do a larger number of certain procedures each year tend to have better results than those that do fewer procedures. This is often referred to as the relationship between operator (the doctor) or institutional (the hospital) volume and the quality of outcomes.
Some of the types of surgeries where this relationship has been studied include:
- Carotid Endarterectomy (removal of blockages in the arteries in the neck)
- Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (bypass of blockages in the arteries in heart)
- Heart Transplant
- Pediatric Heart Surgery
- Coronary Angioplasty (balloons or stents used to open clogged heart vessels)
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair
- Arterial Bypass in the Legs
- Cerebral Aneurysm Repair
For certain types of procedures this relationship between experience and results has been proven to be strong enough for certain organizations to issue guidelines based on these findings. For example, Medicare requires that hospitals perform 12 or more heart transplants each year in order to be reimbursed for those procedures. The American College of Cardiology / American Heart Association recommends a yearly minimum of 200 to 300 coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries by hospitals, and a minimum of 100 to 150 per surgeon.
While the number of surgeries done at a hospital or the experience of the surgeon may not guarantee a better result, the research shows that it may well improve your odds of a better outcome.
Before you or a loved one undergoes surgery, you might consider asking the surgeon these questions:
- How many of these surgeries have you done?
- How many do you perform on average each year?
- Who will actually do the surgery, you or someone else?
- Who will be assisting you in the operating room and with what parts of the procedure?
- How long have these surgeries been done in this hospital?
- How many are done each year in this hospital?
So, can you protect yourself from medical errors? By choosing an experienced surgeon and hospital, you can at least improve your odds.
If you, or someone you know, have been injured as a result of a medical error, the attorneys at Hill Boren are here for you. Please contact us. Your consultation is free and confidential.