In the Wall Street Journal, Laura Landro writes that the April edition of the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety includes an analysis of a fatal medical error that occurred when a nurse accidentally penicillin for an epidural. In doing so, according to the report, the nurse circumvented several safety procedures. The review further determined that flaws in the hospital’s system of delivering care contributed to the error. Landro notes, however, that some hospitals are now trying to improve safety by establishing procedures for handling staff members who make errors.
It is disturbing to learn time and again how staff members ignore safety procedures. Such conduct injures and often kills patients. What’s more disturbing, though, is learning that some staff members are permitted to be repeat offenders–people who habitually bypass safety procedures.
Landro’s report that some hospitals are trying to better monitor their staff members is refreshing news. I hope other hospitals follow their lead. Good leadership from hospital administrations will lead to better health-care.
About the author:
Mr. Zambri is a Past-President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. and has been rated by Washingtonian magazine as a “Big Gun” and among the “top 1%” of all lawyers in the Washington metropolitan area. The magazine also describes him as “one of Washington’s best–most honest and effective lawyers” who specializes in medical malpractice matters, product liability claims, and serious automobile accident claims. Mr. Zambri has also been repeatedly named a “Super Lawyer” by Law and Politics magazine–a national publication that honors the top lawyers in America.
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