Healthcare Quality Press Releases

The facts and figures, unknown to most people, are startling:
4,000 people a day are harmed by a hospital mistake

▪ 190,000 Americans die every year from hospital error.
▪ 1.5 million medication error injuries every year
▪ every two seconds someone is harmed by a mistake in a hospital

Hear Michael Townes Watson’s “Seven Proven Tips for Medical Safety,”or his “101 Tips on How to Stay Alive in the Hospital”

After thirty years of being a lawyer, mediator and law professor, Michael Townes Watson now advocates for consumers of healthcare in their battle for quality, affordable care.

WHAT WILL WE DO ABOUT HEALTHCARE IN CRISIS?

Newsweek, Time, USA Today, and Reader’s Digest have said that we must “improve care,” that doctors are “gambling with your life,” or that improving patient safety is an “urgent hurdle.”

Drug Reactions cause 700,000 Emergency Room Visits
every year–Center for Disease Control

Over 90,000 People die each year from hospital-acquired infections–Center for Disease Control

There are 1.5 million injuries each year as a result of medication errors–National Institutes of Health

Michael Townes Watson, former Professor of Medical Malpractice Law, currently serving as Practitioner in Residence at Texas Wesleyan University of Texas School of Law, and thirty-year practicing attorney, is the author of America’s Tunnel Vision—How Insurance Companies’ Propaganda Is Corrupting Medicine and Law. He talks about why the print and broadcast media is filled with the stories about the state of our healthcare system. Most people have heard some of these reports, but they feel helpless to understand the causes or remedy the consequences. According to Time Magazine, it is not just that things are slipping through the cracks–the cracks are so big that “there is no solid ground.” Each day in this country 240 people are killed, person by person, slowly and tortuously, by infections acquired in hospitals and nearly 3,000 people are killed each week by hospital errors. Why do people not take note?

Because.........

            1. no one believes that he can become the victim, just like before 9/11?
            2. all doctors and hospitals have healing as their proclaimed mission?
            3. we think there are systems in place to protect us?

Doctors and hospitals do have healing as their mission, but systems are not always designed with healing in mind, and people often do not understand the risk of becoming a victim. However, insurance companies are waging a campaign to strip the public of the right to hold the system accountable.

Your listeners want to be able to help themselves, and they can.

Dr. John Abramson of Harvard says that our healthcare and insurance system is “exquisitely designed to maximize profit and …poorly designed to provide the best care.” LA Times

The New England Journal of Medicine published its report that lawsuits are not a major contributor to rising malpractice insurance costs and that frivolous litigation does not clog the court system. In contrast, it states that “an alarming increase” in the number of infections and rampant violations of the “widely-accepted straightforward standard” of hand-washing lead to a cost in excess of $16 billion annually.

Michael Townes Watson, author, lawyer and law professor, has seen the real cases of medical error and the human effects. He details the successful efforts of the insurance industry to make us ignore the problem of medical error.

Hospital-acquired infections kill more Americans each year
than AIDS, breast cancer, or automobile accidents

Hospital-acquired infections cause one death in this country every six minutes. We can substantially reduce these by requiring hospitals to follow these safe practices:

            TClean filtered air
            Troutine handwashing
            Tregular cleaning of surfaces
            Twater system testing               WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE??............

Michael Townes Watson, former law professor and lawyer in the healthcare area, who has seen the pitfalls of the medical system, can tell your listeners how to avoid them. He has written “Seven Ways to Avoid Becoming a Victim of Medical Error.” Your audience can share these valuable lessons with their friends and loved ones. Watson is the author of America’s Tunnel Vision–How Insurance Companies’ Propaganda Is Corrupting Medicine and Law.

STOP BLAMING PATIENTS FOR HIGH COST OF MEDICAL CARE– When 500 patients are killed each day by hospital error, can’t their families ask why?

2. Healthcare is one of the biggest issues on people’s minds—know your representatives’ positions on this crucial issue

3. Be prepared to write letters to the editor and to your elected representatives

4. Be prepared to tell your friends, neighbors, and families the about the problems of the healthcare system.

The well-connected and politically savvy insurance companies have taken over the practice of medicine. They now are trying to make you believe that you will be better off if doctors and hospitals are not responsible for their errors. We have unwittingly allowed insurance to run our government and take away our rights. Healthcare consumers need to know the facts, the players and the remedies. Your audience wants to be able to protect themselves, and they can.

_________________________________________________________________________________

HEALTHCARE IN CRISIS–WHY AND WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Hospitals must “improve care, reduce errors and save money...We have to put systems in place that stop that error from causing harm." Newsweek--October 16 issue banner story

Even doctors worry about having their loved ones in hospitals–Time Magazine–May 1 Cover Story

Drug Reactions cause 700,000 Emergency Room Visits
every year–Center for Disease Control
(Lead Segment on NBC’s October 18 Today Show)

Over 90,000 People die each year from hosptial-acquired infections–Center for Disease Control

There are 1.5 million injuries each year as a result of medication errors–National Institutes of Health

Hospital-acquired infections kill more Americans each year
than AIDS, breast cancer, or automobile accidents

Hospital-acquired infections cause one death in this country every six minutes. We can substantially reduce these by requiring hospitals to follow these safe practices:

            TClean filtered air
            Troutine handwashing
            Tregular cleaning of surfaces
            Twater system testing               WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE??............

First --require the state medical boards to limit the practice of the worst offenders.

Second–Reduce hospital infections–require them to monitor sanitary air, surfaces and sanitary procedures.

Third–Bring hospitals into the twenty-first century of medical records access and storage

Fourth–Require hospitals and doctors to acknowledge error and systemize improvements

Fifth–Insurance companies should use their existing database capabilities to analyze ways to improve safety and lessen healthcare costs

Although many people wonder if they are getting the care they need when they go to the doctor or the hospital, no one knows how to get it. Now your viewers can have confidence that they are doing everything in their power to avoid becoming one of the millions of people killed or injured every year by medical error in this country. Follow the steps in these two simple guides:

“Seven Ways to Avoid Becoming a Victim of Medical Error”

“Thirteen Tips for a Safe and Secure Hospital Stay”

Both of these guides are prepared by author Michael Townes Watson, former law professor and lawyer in the healthcare area, who has seen the pitfalls of the medical system and can tell your listeners how to avoid them. Your audience can share these valuable lessons with their friends and loved ones. Watson is the author of America’s Tunnel Vision–How Insurance Companies’ Propaganda Is Corrupting Medicine and Law.

STOP BLAMING PATIENTS FOR HIGH COST OF MEDICAL CARE– When 500 patients are killed each day by hospital error, can’t their families ask why?

The well-connected and politically savvy insurance companies have taken over the practice of medicine. They now are trying to make you believe that you will be better off if doctors and hospitals are not responsible for their errors. We have unwittingly allowed insurance to run our government and take away our rights. Healthcare consumers need to know the facts, the players and the remedies. Your listeners want to be able to help themselves, and they can.

Newsweek says hospitals must “improve care, reduce errors and save money...We have to put systems in place that stop that error from causing harm."

How many lost lives will it take before the public begins to take note? Nearly 200,000 people are killed each year by hospital error, according to the latest studies. A new study by the National Institutes of Medicine states that there are 1.5 million injuries in this country every year as a result of medication errors. But insurance companies, in order to take the blame from themselves, have convinced the public that injured patients are the problem. The Congressional Budget office found, in its study of the issue, that medical malpractice insurance premiums comprise less than 1% of the total healthcare bill.
In the past year, both Time and Newsweek have had cover and feature articles on the dangers of hospitals. Hospital error kills more people than any form of cancer except lung cancer. You are five times more likely to be injured in a hospital than when driving your car. One in three women will die from heart disease, but only one in five doctors will diagnose it. Even the New England Journal of Medicine has published articles stating that there is “an alarming increase” in the number of infections and that the “widely-accepted straightforward standard” of hand-washing is routinely violated.
Should we take action and refuse to accept such violations and deaths? Isn’t there a way to make medical care safer? Yes, say the doctors and those who study the healthcare industry. New legislation being considered by Congress would give incentives to institutional providers and insurers to study errors and make improvements in patient safety systems.
When patients are injured, the insurance companies blame them, claiming that claims and lawsuits raise the cost of healthcare. A recent Harvard Health study, however, says that a substantial majority of patients who make claims have legitimate complaints about serious injuries. Frivolous claims do not clog the courts, says the study. Consumers of news need to hear the facts about medical error, ways to prevent it, and how to encourage doctors, patients, lawyers and insurers to work together for a better system.

Contact: 1-888-4000ADAY ; For information about Michael Townes Watson author of America’s Tunnel Vision–How Insurance Companies’ Propaganda Is Corrupting Medicine and Law. By. ISBN 0977620352. Horatio Press; New York; www.StopMedicalError.com.