In 2015, a shocking 253 people died in Pennsylvania due to what the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority says could be errors caused by medical professionals. This, unfortunately, is all the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority is willing to disclose. In a recent article, the entity responsible for collecting this data is being called out for their deliberate lack of full disclosure to patients.
The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority collects data provided by medical facilities and safety officers regarding patient deaths, injuries and medical errors. This entity seems to know more about these events than anyone else. However, they do not provide this information to patients. In fact, the state laws responsible for creating this agency require that the collected information is kept confidential.
In 2015 alone, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority collected data on 239,000 incidents. Of these, 97 percent were events caused by a lapse in safety protocols. Fortunately, these events did not result in the harm to patients. However, of the 7700 more serious events, patients were harmed. These findings may make Pennsylvania residents wonder how their local hospitals and providers stack up, however, doing so may prove to be quite the challenge as the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority is not required by law to share this information.
As the public grows more aware of the frequency in which medical errors occur, patients that have suffered an injury may feel more comfortable coming forward with their claim. If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of provider or facility negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. By working with an experienced medical malpractice attorney, those injured can hold negligent providers responsible and may receive the compensation they need to recover.