Tens of thousands of Canadian patients are harmed by hospital 'errors' every year

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Tens of thousands are harmed \u0027unintentionally\u0027 in Canada\u0027s hospitals every year. Legal privilege prevents us from knowing about it.

Few cases of hospital harm involve true negligence, a breach in the standard or duty of care. And not every preventable harm warrants a Swiss Air style investigation, Horn said. “But there’s a total lack of transparency in the system.”

Hospitals in the U.S. face greater public scrutiny. There’s less transparency in Canada, Baker said. “I don’t think politicians want to see this. A patient is prepped for nerve surgery with her arm marked at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal. What we see, a lot, is an attempt after the fact to create an alternative explanation for the patient's bad outcome“What we see, a lot, is an attempt after the fact to create an alternative explanation for the patient’s bad outcome and focus all kinds of energy and time trying to prove some rare esoteric medical condition to deflect blame from the actual error that occurred and the harm that it caused,” said Toronto medical malpractice lawyer Duncan Embury.

Without progress, people will keep dying. Someone who experiences at least one harm in hospital is four times more likely to die than someone who doesn’t, according to CIHI, which does publicly report patient safety “indicators” by hospital, like rates of sepsis, or trauma during childbirth. CIHI also measures hospital harms by reviewing patient discharge records — if the person was treated for a bed sore, it’s highly unlikely they arrived with one.More public reporting could help, Baker said.

“And everyone wants an apology, Nicklin said. “It doesn’t mean to imply guilt. But there needs to be an apology. There was no apology in my family’s case. Zero apology.” Anna Maria Fiocco was her sister-in law.Anna Maria Fiocco died at age 73 after complications from earlier heart surgery left her confined to a wheelchair. A judge could not establish fault on the part of the doctor.

 

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