Friday, July 21, 2006

Medication errors

The Institute of Medicine, chartered by Congress, has released the results of a survey which extrapolates a number of 1.5 million people harmed by medication errors each year. How badly harmed is left unsaid--though it should be noted that other studies have claimed about 100,000 deaths from medical errors annually, so we'd guess that fewer than 6% of the medication errors lead to death, at the very least.

The researchers give various tips for how people can keep track of their own medications, and also steps the FDA might take to prevent medication errors. Left unsaid, sadly, is Ken Cooper's finding that something like 50% of medical expenses are due to preventable diseases--those caused by smoking, obesity, and a lack of exercise.

In other words, if you want to avoid medication errors, reduce your need for medications. Doing this will also help you in the next 10 years or so as Medicare collapses under the weight of its entitlements.

2 comments:

Mercy Now said...

Unfortunately, we have become a politically correct society where we cannot tell the truth for doing so will offend others. We cannot tell obese kids (PC should be "horizontally challenged") that they need to eat less and exercise more. In fact, see this article about if it's ok for parents to tell their kids they are fat. The thing is if we don't speak the truth, then we all pay later when it becomes so much worse. Of course, there a ways to speak the truth.

Bike Bubba said...

Thanks--it is surreal how we are simultaneously "waging a war" against obesity and failing to teach people what it is. Yikes.

(I guess 100 years of failing to teach logic in school are bearing fruit, eh?)