Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt | Attorneys At Law

Medical mistakes lead to third-most deaths in Florida, elsewhere

On Behalf of | Aug 1, 2014 | Medical Malpractice |

Back in 2009, a pilot was said to be a hero when he landed his plane on the Hudson River, saving hundreds of lives. That pilot has now been speaking out again, focusing on safety in other areas, and he is using the idea of air travel to do it.

Basically, the premise that he suggested was that people needed to think about what types of things would happen if 20 passenger jets started going down each week, killing those on board. He said that the government would quickly step in and shut everything down. Planes would have to stay on the ground and no one would be able to fly. He suggested that air travel would grind to a halt until the issues that were bringing the planes down were fixed.

While that idea may sound insane, he was simply drawing a parallel to all of the people who allegedly die because of medical malpractice. Often, these people, in Florida and elsewhere, are dying because of mistakes that doctors are making that would not be all that hard to prevent.

In fact, recent reports have come out to suggest that medical malpractice could be the third leading cause of death in the United States. When all costs are considered, they could add up to about $1 trillion each year. While tactics are in place to keep this from happening, those stats indicate that they are not being used as much as they should be or that enough is not being done.

It is important for people to understand how prominent of an issue this has become. While crashing jetliners would draw national news attention, these deaths are often overlooked by the public.

Source: Huffington Post, “Patient Safety Takes a Back Seat, Once Again” Joanne Doroshow, Jul. 30, 2014

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