Norfolk, Virginia Injury Lawyer Report: Hospitals are Failing to Report Mistakes

By John Cooper, Norfolk Personal Injury Attorney

As experienced Norfolk, VA serious injury attorneys we see many examples of medical malpractice in hospitals.

Now an alarming new report suggests mistakes made at hospitals are far more prevalent than is commonly believed because many go unreported.

A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stated: “Hospital incident reporting systems captured only an estimated 14 percent of the patient harm events experienced by Medicare beneficiaries. Hospitals investigated those reported events that they considered most likely to lead to quality and safety improvements and made few policy or practice changes as a result of reported events.

We are concerned by this figure which reveals more than four out of five mistakes in hospitals are not being reported.

Nor are all of these mistakes of a minor nature. “The errors included overused or wrong medications, severe bedsores, hospital-based infections and even patient death,” stated ABC News.

The report evaluated data from hospitalized Medicare patients. It also revealed many  hospitals where errors were reported rarely changed policies and practices to avoid repeat errors.

We have reported on a number of serious examples of medical malpractice. In 2011, we noted how a patient was awarded $275,000 after doctors left two large surgical towels inside him.

Even more serious medical malpractice cases have resulted in larger settlements. In 2011 the U.S. Government agreed to pay $2.3 million to a couple who claimed inadequate care at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA caused their child to be born with brain damage.

If hospitals are failing to report many of their mistakes, they may be hindering patients in their rights to take legal action when things go wrong.

DM

The Norfolk based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles car, truck, and motorcycle injuries. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of the our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us (757) 455 -0077. For a free consultation with a specialized Hampton Roads, Virginia personal injury lawyer contact us through this website.