Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyers’ Blog

529 Medical Errors Reported in the District of Columbia In One Year

Unless you or a loved one has been a victim of medical negligence, you have probably never given much thought to how often medical negligence occurs.  You probably have never considered how preventable the medical negligence was.  The Washington, D.C.'s Department of Health's annual report sheds light on those issues.

The city's Department of Health reported that for the 12 months between July 2007 and June 2008, there were 529 "adverse events" in District of Columbia hospitals and clinics.  At least 14 of these errors resulted in the death of the patient.

The underlying nature of the adverse errors was alarming.  At least seven people died because they were given the wrong medicine or given the wrong dose of medication.  Another adverse event involved surgery performed on the wrong breast of a woman.  Another involved the death of patient who, while in respiratory distress, was hooked up to a ventilator that was broken.

Sadly, the 529 adverse events are probably an understatement of the number of actual medical errors that occurred during the reported 12-month period.  Only 10 of the District's 15 hospitals participated in the report, and only two of the District's 21 nursing homes reported.

So, the next time you hear about a medical malpractice case that has been filed, don't be so quick to judge it as frivolous. Ask questions about its underlying facts.  You might be surprised just how preventable the medical error was and how needless a patient's death or injury was.

 

 

Three Virginia Nursing Homes Listed Among Nation's Worst

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its list of the worst nursing homes in the United States. Among the 131 nursing homes cited were three from Virginia -- Beacon Shores Nursing & Rehabilitation in Virginia Beach, Ruxton Health of Woodbridge, and Harbour Pointe M & R Center in Norfolk.

Nursing homes were placed on the list based upon findings made by inspection teams. Criteria employed by the inspection teams included: (1) whether a nursing home had more deficiencies involving quality of care matters than an average nursing home; (2) whether a nursing home had more serious deficiencies involving quality of care matters than an average nursing home; and (3) whether a nursing home had a pattern of serious problems that has persisted over a long period of time.


The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services make the following suggestions regarding the selection of a nursing home:

• Visit the nursing home and talk to staff, residents and other families
  
• Ask to see the results from the last State or CMS survery
• Look at the survey history of the nursing home on Nursing Home Compare to see what areas may be problematic
• Ask the nursing home staff what they are doing to improve quality of care for residents in the nursing home
• Call the State survey agency to find out more about the nursing home
• Look to see if the nursing home has been placed on the the Special Focus Facility (SFF) Initiative by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the past and see how long the nursing home remained on that list
• Call your local State Ombudsman, Administration on Aging, and local groups to find out about the nursing home
• Use the "Nursing Home Brochure" found at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/nursinghome.pdf and "Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home" at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf02174.pdf