Medication errors can and do kill and injure patients in hospitals, outpatient clinics and as a result of doctor ordered prescriptions.  There are literally thousands of medications, which can be prescribed for patient use.  Many have confusing names.  Many have names which are very similar to those of other medications.  Many come in various dosage strengths.  In short, there are lots of ways to make mistakes in medication administration. People prescribe medications, fill prescriptions, issue medications in hospitals and deliver them to patients and people make mistakes.  The sheer number of medications, their similarities and their varying doses make human…

After years of fighting the proposal, hospitals in the United States were finally required to disclose their prices for the various services they provide.  The battle was long, hard and expensive.  Unsurprisingly, many hospitals and hospital chains are still in full resistance mode. The disclosure rule, which took effect on January 1, requires hospitals to disclose, not only their “sticker” price for various procedures and services, but also the discounts they give to insurance companies or health plans as well as what they charge uninsured patients.  The data are to be displayed prominently on a public web site.  The data…

As anyone who observes our health care delivery system in action knows, hospitals are hotbeds of medical errors.  It is not all their fault but it is a fact.  There are so many people participating in patient care.  There are so many medications being ordered and delivered.  There is so much communication between providers, which can lead to misunderstandings.  As the old proverb states, “To err is human.”  We are all humans and we all make mistakes.  However, rather than admit their mistakes, hospitals actively hide them. It is easy to understand why hospitals want to hide evidence of their…

A recurring theme in American political life is the insistence that consumers are the victims of rapacious medical malpractice lawyers, who sue at the drop of a hat and whose actions raise health care costs for all of the rest of us.  Some politicians, mostly Republicans, hold this belief as a matter of faith, even though they have never looked to see whether there is any truth to it or not.  There is not and here is an impressive study which shows that tort reform is just another way of making life easier and richer for malpractice insurance companies and…