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Patients often victims of treatment errors
Treatment errors can have serious consequences for those affected, ranging to lethal complications. The latest figures from the Medical Service of Health Insurance (MDK) for the year 2014 show that a high number of suspected treatment errors continued to be recorded and that numerous deaths were recorded.
In total, the medical services of the health insurance have examined 14,663 treatment error reproaches in 2014 and in every fourth case, the suspicion of patients was confirmed by the experts, so the press release of the Medical Service of the GKV-Spitzenverbandes (MDS). This requires an open approach to the mistakes and a new safety culture in order to better protect patients in the future.
No all-clear for the treatment errors
The number of suspected treatment errors rose again slightly in 2014 (from 14,585 to 14,663 suspected cases) and the confirmed treatment errors continued to increase. In 3,796 cases (3,687 cases in 2013), the MDK reviewers came to the conclusion that the allegation of a treatment error was justified. "The number of assessed treatment error reproaches is persistently high - so far we can give as a medical service no all-clear," reminds dr. Stefan Gronemeyer, Chief Physician and Deputy Managing Director of MDS.
Open dealing with treatment errors required
According to the expert, "even with the utmost care, mistakes happen in the hospital, in the doctor's office and in the nursing care." Here, the experts are concerned with an open handling of the errors, primarily to compensate the patients accordingly. But also so that the errors can be systematically analyzed and avoided in the future. The focus is on the question of which circumstances led to the error, said Gronemeyer.
After surgery, the suspicion of a treatment error is particularly common. Image: klick61 / fotolia.com Many suspected cases in the field of surgery
Of the treatment error reproaches, nearly two thirds were hospitalized and one third related to allegations against a general practitioner, according to the MDS. In terms of treatment, most treatment error reproaches have been reported during surgical procedures. According to the MDS, 7,845 cases were directly related to surgery. However, this does not necessarily have to do with the increased treatment errors in the area, but the experiences of the MDK in a postoperative course of treatment, which does not meet the expectations, the obvious suspicion of a treatment error, while errors in the medication of patients often not perceived will be explained by MDK Bayern's senior doctor, Prof. Dr. med. Astrid Zobel. In the end only 24.3 percent of the suspected errors in the surgical procedures were confirmed by the expert.
Highest rate confirmed error in care
Although most treatment error reproaches were related to surgery, the most frequent confirmation was a false reproach, according to the MDS in nursing (57.8 percent of 590 cases). This was followed by dentistry, in which 39.2 percent of 1,419 cases were confirmed by experts, general surgery with 27.5 percent of 1,642 cases and gynecology and obstetrics with 27 percent of 1,144 cases. In total, in 155 cases, the patients died from the consequences of a mistake or related complications, reports the news agency "dpa", citing the figures of the MDK.
Big dark figure in the treatment errors
According to Prof. Zobel, the statistics of the MDK community indicate that this does not reflect the quality of treatment as it does not represent the total number of treatments and treatment errors. In addition, "a high number of unreported cases can be assumed, because errors do not always come to light as such and are thus not recognizable to patients or to practitioners," says Zobel. In addition, "patients are probably often unable or can not decide to pursue a suspected fault," explains the expert. (Fp)