Personal Injury Law

Congressman Fights for Patient Safety

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Representative Bruce Braley gave a last-minute speech about medical errors moments before the House voted on the health reform bill earlier this month. He asked who was supposed to speak for the patients. He quoted an Institute of Medicine report stating that, ?[t]he most significant way to reduce the cost of medical malpractice is to emphasize patient safety by reducing the number of preventable medical errors.? Nearly 200,000 Americans die each year from errors made during their medical care and from infections they picked up in the hospital. Many were pleased that someone in Congress finally stood up for patient safety. Currently the health care bill is in front of the Senate. To read more about the Senator and his medical error speech, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on November 23, 2009 (boomark / email).