Doctors HandWriting Kills 7000 a year?

[aileron]

This is one more piece of information for our cause.

So tell me again, how many gun users accidentally kill people a year???

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1578074,00.html

[JimAmentler]

Now if we could get them to write their chart orders electronically. Then we would know exactly what they wanted rather than a best guess and verify.

[newtothis]

I've never understood why this is tolerated. It's as bad as drunk drivers killing people. They are supposed to be helping you and there is no excuse.

[Dont Tread on Me]

Why doesent the Brady bunch take on this issue? 7k lives is a lot to save.

[bwiese]

That's just the handwriting.

A variety of miscommunications between doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. cause by issues other than handwriting is likely to be a greater cause of death or health impairment. Simple recopying of dosages/medications from one system to another (with *typed data entry*) can be error prone.

Example: when my dad was in Mills Hospital in '83 (hit by diabetes onset) his 'roomie' was recovering from a heart attack. An English-as-a-2nd-language nurse came in one evening with a shot for the other patient but insisted on giving it to my dad. If my dad weren't sharp he'd've had some bad heart meds shot into him, that likely woulda caused *big* problems (at the very best).

When we took pops to the hospital in '99, Mom had his meds (types, dosages, schedule, etc.) all printed on a 3"x5" card. Most of the drugs got entered into the system - it wasn't til a few days later we realized he wasn't getting the stuff he should've had (fortunately the skipped meds were relatively minor).

[Dont Tread on Me]

I think this is very relevant to gun control. Handy fact to have in your pocket to feed an anti-gunner in need of something more pressing to worry about.

[ligamentum flavum]

Avoid being admitted to teaching hospitals in July. That's when new interns start. My med school pathology professor would always tell us that July is usually the deadliest month in hospitals.

[Builder]

Well, to satisfy Treelogger , here's the politics associated with aileron's post.
Each year, about 11,000-12,000 people in the US are killed by firearms. Each year, about 40,000-45,000 people are killed by automobile accidents in the US. Each year, about 100,000 people are killed by the medical establishment by wrong med, wrong treatment, preventable complication, mistakes, etc.
Builder

[donger]

That's just the handwriting.

A variety of miscommunications between doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. cause by issues other than handwriting is likely to be a greater cause of death or health impairment. Simple recopying of dosages/medications from one system to another (with *typed data entry*) can be error prone.

Although I think that's a big factor in medication errors, the fact that M.D.'s, in general have terrible handwriting, is the largest factor of errors.

Ask me how I know.

[Scarecrow Repair]

Why doesent the Brady bunch take on this issue? 7k lives is a lot to save.

Because Brady wasn't almost killed by a doctor's handwriting. Or at least that anyone knows about.

[sierratangofoxtrotunion]

Hey, where's Mike Haas' gun death countdown when you need it? I forget the address right this second. And it's too late at night to use the search.