Some estimates say that as many as 15% of all medical diagnoses are incorrect. Now a new study concludes that certain serious medical conditions are often misdiagnosed.
A medical misdiagnosis can take three forms:
· Missed diagnosis
· A wrong diagnosis
· Delayed diagnosis
Each type of preventable medical error can seriously hurt patients. According to the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, an organization that works to improve medical diagnoses, between 40,000 and 80,000 patients die each year in this country due to a misdiagnosis.
This organization funded a study (“Rate ...
New data show that, while overall deaths from traffic accidents continue to decline, fatal commercial trucking accidents continue to increase. Yet the trucking industry puts up roadblocks over proposed measures to increase commercial trucking safety.
In October 2019, the federal government reported the number people killed in motor vehicle crashes dropped 2.4% from 2018 to 2017 – 913 fewer deaths. This month, the federal government published a preliminary approximation of fatalities for 2019 (“Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2019”), which ...
Despite fewer cars on Missouri’s roads because of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of fatal car crashes in the Show-Me State is up over the previous year.
In April the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Missouri’s fatal motor vehicle crashes were up 4% over the year prior. According to statistics from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, that trend continued into May, with the number of people killed in Missouri car wrecks up 5% compared to the same time in May 2019.
That same Post-Dispatch story documented another trend related to COVID-19: With less traffic on the road, there ...
It’s a decidedly mixed bag for patient safety in St. Louis-area hospitals. As preventable medical errors are estimated to be the third leading cause of death in the United States, this is not comforting news.
The Leapfrog Group, a leading nonprofit patient safety organization, annually publishes safety grades for hospitals across the country. It publishes the grades, which are based on reports of adverse events and other factors, in the spring and fall.
Its Spring 2020 patient safety grades – from “A” to “F” - were released earlier this month.
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