| As we Americans mourn the anniversary of 9/11 and | | | | each day you're in a hospital getting drugs pumped |
| the 2,973 people who were murdered on that day 5 | | | | into your body at least one medication error will |
| years ago, an even more insidious homeland terror is | | | | occur.** Startling, isn't it? |
| scourging our nation. Every year in this country, more | | | | Americans must be vigilant healthcare consumers. Our |
| than 98,000* people die from an attack taking place | | | | lives depend on it. Individuals need to research their |
| in our local hospitals. This senseless terror is caused | | | | own illness, be persistent in seeking specialists and |
| by medical negligence. | | | | insist that a friend or relative is always at their |
| The silent epidemic goes unnoticed because its | | | | bedside. They should make sure their healthcare |
| perpetrators are not wearing kefiyahs and carrying | | | | provider is not prescribing a drug or recommending a |
| AK-47s. Instead they wear white lab coats, carry | | | | medical device based on incentives from the |
| stethoscopes and masquerade as medical | | | | manufacturer. When hospital patients suspect |
| professionals. The 268 deaths they cause each and | | | | something is wrong with their treatment, they should |
| every day occur individually in thousands of hospitals, | | | | go up the chain of command all the way to the chief |
| as opposed to the 2,973 deaths from that one | | | | of staff, and if that doesn't work, then to risk |
| horrific mass attack. And the medical community has | | | | management. |
| succeeded in keeping its dirty secret out of the daily | | | | It's time to demand more accountability from our |
| headlines. Healthcare providers do not inform patients | | | | healthcare providers. Just as we demand that our |
| or their families about medical errors, even when the | | | | armed forces keep the country safe from terrorist |
| result is death. | | | | attacks, we need to also demand that our healthcare |
| As a registered nurse, I've worked on the front line | | | | industry police itself and practice competently. |
| witnessing this atrocity and the devastation it causes | | | | * To Err is Human; Building a Safer Health System, |
| victims and their families. As an attorney and legal | | | | Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press: |
| nurse consulting educator, I'm acutely aware of the | | | | Washington, DC, 1999. |
| billions of dollars in unnecessary healthcare expense | | | | ** Preventing Medication Errors, Institute of Medicine, |
| to the American public. It frightens me how easily the | | | | National Academy Press: Washington, DC, July 21, |
| average person submits to a doctor's or nurse's | | | | 2006. |
| decision without question, when you consider that for | | | | |