Originally published August 6 2005
Congress approves patient safety bill
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved legislation aimed at improving medical care and saving lives by encouraging doctors and other health care providers to share data about errors without triggering new lawsuits.
The House overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday that would create the first national network for reporting, analyzing and correcting medical errors, which were estimated to cause 40,000 to 98,000 preventable deaths each year.
Common medical errors include giving patients the wrong medications and lax sanitary practices, which can lead to infections at hospitals and nursing homes.
The bill would guarantee confidentiality to healthcare providers who reported problems, and would bar the reports from being used in malpractice suits and workplace and professional disciplinary proceedings.
After the House vote, Dr. J. Edward Hill, president of the American Medical Assn., said: "The healthcare community has long been committed to improving patient safety, and significant progress has been made through new technology, research and education.
But federal legislation is the crucial element needed to truly expand broad patient safety reforms nationwide.
"When physicians can report errors in a voluntary and confidential manner, everyone benefits," Hill said.
A reporting system, added Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.), a principal author of the bill, "will help create a culture of awareness to expose and address the systemic causes of medical errors instead of continuing the culture of blame, which hides and perpetuates them."
Republican-backed measures to cap pain-and-suffering damages in malpractice cases, and to allow small business to circumvent state requirements that can increase the cost of health insurance, appear to have little chance in the Senate.
Reporting systems that provide anonymity in exchange for information are used in aviation and have been credited with helping to reduce accidents.
Facing rising malpractice premiums and stung by media coverage of anesthesia accidents, the medical specialty created its own safety foundation in 1984.
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