Questão 15 - USS (Univassouras) Medicina 2024/2

STUDY SUGGESTS MEDICAL ERRORS ARE NOW THE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THE U.S.

 

[1] Over 138 million patients are harmed every year by doctors’ errors and medical mistakes, which cause 2.6
million deaths yearly, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned, just a few days before celebrating the
first “World Patient Safety Day”, with which it seeks to raise awareness of this ongoing tragedy.

 

“Errors in diagnosis, errors in medicine prescriptions and treatments, and the inappropriate use of drugs are the

[5] three main reasons why so many patients are harmed”, WHO patient-safety coordinator, Dr. Neelam Dhingra-

Kumar, told a press conference on Friday. These mistakes occur because healthcare systems are not suitably
designed to deal with these errors and learn from them. Many medical facilities also hide what they did wrong,
which often keeps them from taking steps to make sure these errors are not repeated in the future.

 

Figures provided by the WHO refer only to countries with medium and low economic status, where 80
[10] per cent of the global population live. The real number could be even greater, considering that even in
developed countries, one out of every 10 patients is the victim of medical mistakes. Examples of these errors
are the application of medications in ways they were not designed for, errors in blood transfusions and in
taking X-rays, or in more dramatic cases, indicating that the wrong limb needs to be amputated or that the
wrong side of the brain requires surgery.

 

[15] According to the Geneva-based Organization, only errors related to erroneous medicine prescriptions cost
healthcare systems around the world some $42 billion (37 billion euros). To raise awareness about these
problems, starting this year, the WHO will celebrate every September 17 World Patient Safety Day, which in
its first year will light up with the colour orange a number of monuments and healthcare facilities worldwide.

Adapted from: https://ummid.com/news/2019/september/15.09.2019/deaths-due-to-doctor-error-who-data.html. Accessed 5 February 2022.

The main message in paragraph 3 is the following: