Top Medical Errors Report Released by Senator Barbara Boxer

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) released an updated report detailing the most common and harmful errors at our nation’s hospitals and what hospitals in California are doing to prevent them.

According to the report, each year, between 210,000 and 440,000 Americans die as a result of preventable errors in hospitals, such as hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug reactions, patient falls and bedsores — numbers equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every day with no survivors.

Research has also found that the direct costs of medical errors total $19.5 billion annually and that the economic costs of medical errors, including lost productivity, could be as much as $1 trillion a year.

The report lists the 9 most common medical errors as follows.

• Adverse Drug Events
• Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections
• Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections
• Injuries from Falls and Immobility
• Obstetrical Adverse Events
• Pressure Ulcers (Bedsores)
• Surgical Site Infections
• Venous Thromboembolism (Blood Clots)
• Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia 

For more information, see Sen. Boxer's website.