Report Details 3,000 Medical Errors at Veterans Hospitals
Federal investigators have documented almost 3,000 medical mistakes and mishaps in less than two years at veterans hospitals around the country, and more than 700 patients have died in those cases, according to a New York Times report.
The Department of Veterans Affairs says in a new report that the accidents and deaths occurred from June 1997 to December 1998, in the first 19 months of a new policy that requires employees to report medical errors and “adverse events.”
The problems include medication errors, like prescribing or dispensing the wrong drugs, the failure of medical devices, abuse of patients, errors in blood transfusions and surgery on the wrong body part or the wrong patient, the Times reported Saturday on its Web site.
The comprehensive self-examination by the department is believed to be the first of its kind by any health care system in the nation.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
