Penn misstates and the hazards of Duke The Great Infection Deflection, part 1 Many times over the last few years, I've sounded the alarm about how hospitals and doctors' offices are the last places you'd want to go if you were sick. Statistics I've cited in the past show that a combination of hospital-borne infections, surgical errors, adverse drug reactions and just plain old medical malpractice add up to the third leading cause of death in this country… And on paper at least, some states SEEM to be doing something about this disturbing reality. According to a new report from a Pennsylvania government agency charged with tracking health care trends, nearly 12,000 patients in that state contracted infections from their hospital stays in 2004. Of those unfortunate souls, almost 1,800 died as a result. The report is part of a new requirement that forces Keystone State hospitals to track and disclose such information to help officials better enforce (or put in place) controls to improve cleanliness in medical facilities aimed at reducing both the danger and the cost of health care - and subsequently, the cost of health insurance. The estimated cost of caring for these 11,000-odd patients' infections topped $2 billion and extended hospital stays by 205,000 days last year alone. This is a good thing, right - forcing states to disclose their foul-ups so folks know all the risks? Theoretically, yes. But once I dug a little further into the data, I concluded that this "disclosure" grossly understates the problem of hospital-borne infections to the point of ludicrousness. Here's what I mean: Even though 12,000 sickened and 1,800 dead sounds like a lot in one year, the report bases this on more than 1.6 million admissions to 173 Pennsylvania acute care centers in 2004, according to an Associated Press article on the findings. That translates into a yearly risk of just 3/4 of 1% of being sickened by a hospital-borne infection - and only slightly more than a 1 in 1,000 risk of dying from one of these drug-resistant "superbugs." To put this in perspective, if these statistics hold true for all states, that means your odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime (1 in 3,000) are only 3 times less than being killed by a hospital infection in any given year. Seems pretty safe to go to your local medical center… Not in the least. I'll tell you exactly what I'm talking about in the next Daily Dose. Right now, here's an update on another story of hospital hazards I've been reporting on over the last few months… **************************************************** Duke puts up its dukes Twice in the last half-year (Daily Dose, 2/28 and 7/11/05), I've reported on the ongoing scandal involving a pair of Duke University affiliated hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina in which surgical instruments were erroneously "washed" over a two-month period in 2004… With used hydraulic fluid drained from elevators in the hospitals' parking garages! Approximately 3,800 patients went under oily knives before the snafu was discovered. In response, hospital officials have offered two years' worth of health monitoring, and have issued statements that say, in so many words, that they aren't concerned about long-term negative effects. Despite this, some of these unfortunate patients have experienced bizarre symptoms since their procedures, according to a recent Associated Press report. These symptoms have ranged from incomplete or delayed recovery to rashes, pain, hair loss, and mental anguish. Beyond this, at least one victim seeking litigation against the Duke hospital system claims medical records given to her attorney contain NO MENTION of her complaints to her doctors about post-operative problems that may be related to the contaminated instruments. Hmmm. Tampering with records to cover up gross negligence? More on this as it develops, folks… Reporting, not distorting, William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
