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Acute Treatment Errors Due to Constant Overloading Many doctors are at risk for patients
Many physicians pose a danger to patients. Many physicians suffer from increasing congestion, alcohol and drug problems, dementia or overconfidence. Patients now demand better protection against medical errors.
Treatment errors are not uncommon
Wrong diagnoses made or therapies according to obsolete knowledge accomplished: Unfortunately medical errors are not uncommon. Patient and consumer advocates repeatedly demand better protection of patients from medical treatment errors. As the "Welt am Sonntag" ("WamS") reported, such mistakes - especially in medical practices often go unnoticed by the patient - apparently heaped when the doctors themselves are ill, such as depressed or with onset of dementia. In addition, many physicians are alcohol or drug dependent. Among other things, this was shown in a study from the year before last, which found that about every fifth surgeon uses drugs to reduce stress and improve performance.
Picture: Coloures-pic - fotolia What affected patients can do
It is important for patients to know that the health insurance company has to advise the insured on suspicion of treatment errors. Experts have been increasingly informed in recent months about important tips and assistance with treatment errors. Ulrike Mascher, president of the social association VdK, now told the "WamS" that the quality of treatment outcomes has to be more closely controlled in the future. "Doctors who repeatedly undergo treatment errors, the approval quickly be withdrawn," said the expert.
Overloaded doctors become a danger
According to medical scientists, ten to 20 percent of all doctors are so overloaded that they can be a danger to patients. And patient advocates estimate that a very significant proportion of treatment errors can be attributed to physicians who overestimate themselves. For the past year, nearly 3,800 treatment errors have been confirmed by the Medical Service of the Health Insurance (MDK). It is a rarity in Germany that physicians who have become conspicuous due to health problems are deprived of their license to practice medicine. According to a query by the "WamS", this was the case 35 times in the country's licensing authorities last year. There are 365,000 doctors nationwide.
Every fourth doctor is over 60 years old
As German doctors on average are getting older, the number of doctors with health restrictions is likely to increase in the coming years. Last week, the Federal Statistical Office presented figures showing that over a quarter of all doctors in German practices are already 60 or older. Every 20th doctor, according to official statistics of the German Medical Association, continues to work beyond the age of 65. With the help of technical solutions, medical errors could be avoided, say medical researchers like Matthias Weigl from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. "Patient protection would benefit greatly if doctors were to be supported more automatically in the future and stopped in an emergency, analogous to pilots in the aircraft - or a technician in the nuclear power plant, who is also asked by the computer system, if he actually wants to let the cooling water from the tanks." says Weigl. In his opinion, it would be useful, for example, for the physician to enter medication prescriptions into a computer and to warn the system if the dosage or frequency is dangerous for the patient. (Ad)