Personal Injury Law

Federal Government Steps in to Curb Hospital Infections

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress?s investigative arm, has urged the Department of Health and Human Services to set standards for how hospitals should deal with hospital infections. Hospital infections usually strike after a patient is discharged from a hospital and are an often forgotten source of medical malpractice and medical malpractice lawsuits. Many hospital infections come from problems with a hospital?s sanitation methods, failure to sterilize surgical instruments, or other medical errors. Hospital infections usually cause 100,000 deaths and infect more than 2 million people each year. The GAO hopes that the new standards will improve hospital accountability and curb the number of hospital infections each year and provide a centralized information source on hospital infection rates, death from hospital infections, and best practices.

See the story here.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on April 21, 2008 (boomark / email).