[release]Nearly 50,000 U.S. medical patients die every year of blood poisoning or pneumonia they picked up in hospital, a study has shown.
Hospital-acquired sepsis and pneumonia in 2006 claimed 48,000 lives, led to 2.3 million extra patient-days in hospital and cost $8.1 billion, according to the study, led by researchers from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy at Washington-based Resources for the Future.
Together, the two hospital-acquired infections — also called nosocomial infections — account for about one-third of the 1.7 million infections U.S. patients pick up every year while in hospital, the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows.
They are also responsible for nearly half of the 99,000 deaths a year from hospital-acquired infections reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study found that patients who underwent invasive surgery during their initial hospitalization were more likely to pick up a secondary infection while in hospital, and elective surgery patients were at even higher risk of nosocomial infection.
Using the largest database of hospital records in the United States, which covered hospital discharges in 40 states, the researchers estimated that 290,000 patients in U.S. hospitals picked up sepsis, or blood poisoning, during their hospitalization in 2006, and 200,000 developed pneumonia.
Hospital-acquired pneumonia extended a patient's stay in hospital by 14 days and added some $46,400 to the final price tag, while sepsis extended the time spent in hospital by nearly 11 days and added $32,900 on average to the final bill.
And in many cases, the two infections and others picked up in hospital could be prevented by improving hygiene in clinical settings, said Ramanan Laxminarayan, one of the lead authors of the study.
In a commentary piece also published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, two critical care doctors deplored "the magnitude of harm from these infections" and said it was "unconscionable" that patients "continue to experience harm from their interactions with the health system."
"What is glaringly obvious is that preventable harm remains a substantial problem and that investments in research to reduce these harms are woefully inadequate given the magnitude of the problem," David Murphy and John Pronovost of Johns Hopkins University's department of medicine wrote in the commentary.
"We have invested little in rigorous methods to measure and improve quality of care," they wrote.[/release]
[url]http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/health/stories/hospital-infections-kill-48000-cost-billions[/url]
If only there was some building we could take these sick people to in hopes of them being cured :downs:
But really my grandpa went into the Hospital from a stroke and died due to a staff infection, pretty fucked up.
Blame foreign workers who aren't trained in proper cleanliness. Oh only if Diana was here!
It's the workers fault for not washing properly.
[QUOTE=radioactive;20400144]Blame foreign workers who aren't trained in proper cleanliness. Oh only if Diana was here!
It's the workers fault for not washing properly.[/QUOTE]
My step mom is a nurse and before any surgery you must wash your hands for 10 minutes straight, methinks it's the janitors coming into work sick or what have you.
[QUOTE=breakyourfac;20400164]My step mom is a nurse and before any surgery you must wash your hands for 10 minutes straight, methinks it's the janitors coming into work sick or what have you.[/QUOTE]
Me thinks it's just US and their shitty healthcare.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;20400189]Me thinks it's just US and their shitty healthcare.[/QUOTE]
This too, I have to deal with no treatment for a broken bone in my hand because my family is dealing with expensive ass previous medical bills and can't afford another one.
That sucks. How much does it cost to fix a broken bone in the hand?
[editline]07:53PM[/editline]
You still have it broken?
[QUOTE=Swebonny;20400231]That sucks. How much does it cost to fix a broken bone in the hand?
[editline]07:53PM[/editline]
You still have it broken?[/QUOTE]
Well just going into the hospital and getting an x-ray is a few hundred dollars, a cast/splint is another few hundred, and any medication is about $10 so about $800 and there's a possibility I need surgery for it so that's like $5,000.
We're paying off bills from when I broke my wrist and tore a ligament in my knee and when my dad almost bled to death from a 6 day long nosebleed.
It's bullshit that if you get an infection from a surgery that it will cost you more money.
If you get an infection while under hospital care in a fucking hospital then the hospital should foot the bill. Maybe then we'll see a decrease in infection rates.
So we have the world's most expensive healthcare by far, and it kills nearly 50,000 people a year just from infections.
Now, if America took a minor tax from people to pay for a Nationalised Health Care service, this wouldn't happen and more people would be alive.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;20400397]So we have the world's most expensive healthcare by far, and it kills nearly 50,000 people a year just from infections.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.facepunch.com/image.php?u=79771&dateline=1266719531[/img]
yup.
[QUOTE=breakyourfac;20400491][img]http://www.facepunch.com/image.php?u=79771&dateline=1266719531[/img]
yup.[/QUOTE]
fuck man
[QUOTE=GunFox;20400284]It's bullshit that if you get an infection from a surgery that it will cost you more money.
If you get an infection while under hospital care in a fucking hospital then the hospital should foot the bill. Maybe then we'll see a decrease in infection rates.[/QUOTE]
Malpractice is a bitch ain't it?
at least we ain't commies :smug:
Fuck, this country. Full of so much shit.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;20400681]Malpractice is a bitch ain't it?[/QUOTE]
Until you sue.
[QUOTE=davidofmk771;20401678]Until you sue.[/QUOTE]
Up until you realize the hospital is still, regardless, willing to spend more money on lawyers and malpractice insurance than it is on medical equipment and proper procedures. Who wins then?
[QUOTE=Exploits;20401724]Up until you realize the hospital is still, regardless, willing to spend more money on lawyers and malpractice insurance than it is on medical equipment and proper procedures. Who wins then?[/QUOTE]
Malpractice is a thing that usually gets at least a settlement. They may try their hardest to hold it off, but remember, there is a judge and jury to decide this. And what do you think insurance does? It doesn't make the suit null and void, it pays for it. The hospital slowly invest in this so they don't have to pay big money in a small amount of time in case of malpractice.
It's not always malpractice. Blood poisoning isn't usually the fault of the hospital itself, it's a result of the processing lab, which is usually a separate building owned by a separate company for insurance reasons (oddly enough). As for pneumonia, when you have a weakened immune system, which you generally do after surgeries or whatever, stuff that wouldn't affect you affects you.
The only way to entirely prevent this from happening is to have a blood lab and tech lab and morgue and xrays and everything medical that you would ever need in the same giant building with vacuum sealed doors, two disinfecting airlocks, and absolutely no visitors.
Shit happens.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;20400397]So we have the world's most expensive healthcare by far, and it kills nearly 50,000 people a year just from infections.[/QUOTE]
We also have some of the world's best healthcare and a population of over 300 million.
[QUOTE=HolyCrusade;20401992]We also have some of the [B]world's best healthcare[/B] and a population of over 300 million.[/QUOTE]
That statement doesn't mean shit if said healthcare isn't available to everyone.
[QUOTE=Kybalt;20402103]That statement doesn't mean shit if said healthcare isn't available to everyone.[/QUOTE]
He is right though, to those who can afford it, the healthcare is, without doubt, top-notch and the best available.
Aaahhh... good old British NHS... free healthcare... and asshole workers who never got an education past secondary school.
Seriously though, we may get free healthcare, but the majority of nurses and doctors are pricks from what I've heard.
So I heard you are poor and can't pay for broken bone? Well shouldn't have broken it in the first place, now go and die.
Green Flu
[QUOTE=th3cactusplant;20402202]Aaahhh... good old British NHS... free healthcare... and asshole workers who never got an education past secondary school.
Seriously though, we may get free healthcare, but the majority of nurses and doctors are pricks from what I've heard.[/QUOTE]
From what you've heard?
[QUOTE=davidofmk771;20401678]Until you sue.[/QUOTE]
Not much use if you're dead.
[QUOTE=johanz;20402205]So I heard you are poor and can't pay for broken bone? Well shouldn't have broken it in the first place, now go and die.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, I was defending myself, maybe I should've just not done that and gotten beaten with a tire iron because my injuries would be less severe :downs:
[QUOTE=RayvenQ;20402338]Not much use if you're dead.[/QUOTE]
Nonsense. If I die from malpractice, I want the settlement money buried with me. :colbert:
[QUOTE=HolyCrusade;20401992]We also have some of the world's best healthcare and a population of over 300 million.[/QUOTE]
Even though the US is #47 in quality?
[editline]06:25AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=th3cactusplant;20402202]Aaahhh... good old British NHS... free healthcare... and asshole workers who never got an education past secondary school.
Seriously though, we may get free healthcare, but the majority of nurses and doctors are pricks from [B]what I've heard.[/B][/QUOTE]
This doesn't fly.
[editline]06:26AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Exploits;20402139]He is right though, to those who can afford it, the healthcare is, without doubt, top-notch and the best available.[/QUOTE]
that would be France
That's like saying North Korea has the best helicopters.
That's all fine and dandy but no one in the country can afford it.
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