The Safe Patient Project is a Consumers Union campaign focused on eliminating medical harm, improving FDA oversight of prescription drugs and promoting disclosure laws that give information to consumers about health care safety and quality.
California
News Articles
- Hospitals Face New Pressure To Cut Infection Rates Source: NPR (Saturday May 28, 2011)
Starting this year, hospitals have to reveal their catheter-associated blood stream infections if they want their Medicare bills paid in full. Next year, they’ll have to report surgical-site infections. The list will grow longer in the coming years. Patient safety activist David Meyer shares his hospital infection story.
- Medical Board of California, go public with your pain Source: Reporting on Health (Friday May 6, 2011)
William Heisel on the Medical Board of California: “The board’s members should make a cogent public case for a better-funded, more nimble and more accountable board. “
- Hospitals must change surgical scrub culture from within Source: William Heisel's Antidote: Investigating Untold Health Stories (Wednesday April 27, 2011)
Julia Hallisy, cofounder of The Empowered Patient Coalition, writes about surgical scrubs transferring infections when they are worn outside the hospital
- Lap-Band death blamed on anesthesiologist Source: Los Angeles Times (Thursday April 14, 2011)
LA County coroner finds that bad care by an anesthesiologist caused the death of a young woman who had Lap-Band weight loss surgery.
- Southern California Hospitals Taking Action To Combat Spread of Drug-Resistant 'Superbug' Source: California Healthline (Wednesday April 13, 2011)
Audio report about hospitals are dealing with highly drug-resistant bacteria that can lead to harmful infections. Interview features Julia Hallisy, co-found of the Empowered Patient Coalition.
- Drug-resistant strain of pneumonia shows up in Southern California Source: Ventura County Star (Wednesday March 30, 2011)
A drug-resistant strain of bacterial pneumonia thought to be contained on the East Coast has shown up in unexpectedly high numbers in Southern California, but so far the numbers have not spiked in Ventura County.
- Superbug CRKP Increasing in California; 350+ Superbug Infections Source: ThirdAge (Wednesday March 30, 2011)
Superbug Klebsiella pneumoniae, or CRKP, has been found in a number of Los Angeles County hospitals and nursing homes.
- 'Superbug' spreading to Southern California hospitals Source: LA Times (Thursday March 24, 2011)
More than 350 cases of Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, or CRKP, have been reported at healthcare facilities in Los Angeles County, mostly among elderly patients at skilled-nursing and long-term care facilities, according to a study by Dr. Dawn Terashita, an epidemiologist with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
- Hospital-Acquired Infections: A First-hand Account Source: The California Report KQED (Thursday March 17, 2011)
David Meyer, a former contractor who lives in the Sacramento area, found himself in the hospital after a motorcycle accident five years ago. His surgery wouldn’t heal for nearly a year – the result of an undiagnosed infection.
- Released hospital patients' many unhappy returns Source: San Francisco Chronicle (Wednesday February 16, 2011)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/16/MN4K1HCMNU.DTLA new study found that 20 percent of California patients were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days at an annual cost of $250 million. The study blames poor discharge planning but also patient complications, which we know can often be the result of infections and medical errors. The report by the California Discharge Planning Cooperative can be found here.