Medical Mistakes Kill Millions
“If you were admitted to hospital tomorrow in any country… your chances of being subjected to an error in your care would be something like 1 in 10. Your chances of dying due to an error in health care would be 1 in 300,” Liam Donaldson, the WHO’s newly appointed envoy for patient safety, told a news briefing.
According to WHO, 1.7 million infections are acquired in hospital each year in the U.S., leading to 100,000 deaths.
Over 50 percent of acquired infections can be prevented if health care workers clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based handbag before treating patients.
So there you have it – as a global average, just being admitted to a hospital means your odds of dying due to an accidental infection is 0.3%. Maybe write in marker pen on your forehead “did you wash your hands?”