Hospitals May Be the Worst Place to Stay When You’re Sick

Plus, how to protect yourself from medical errors  by: Katharine Greider | from: AARP Bulletin | March 1, 2012

Mistakes run the gamut. The surgeon nicks a healthy blood vessel; a nurse mistakenly administers a toxic dose of medicine; the staff fails to adequately disinfect a room, and a patient contracts a dangerous “superbug.”

The number of patients who die each year from preventable hospital errors is equal to four full jumbo jets crashing each week. If airline tragedies of that magnitude were occurring with such frequency, no one would tolerate the loss. Read more