Important. And pass it on...

Recently, the Tribune reported that “some of the nation’s largest businesses called on U.S. hospitals to agree to apologize and waive costs related to “never” events" – medical errors these employers say should never happen. According to the Chicago Tribune article “Backlash At Bills For Medical Mistakes”, many large firms are tired of paying for botched medical-care procedures and low-quality care.

We lawyers who file cases for patients injured by medical negligence have been pushing for medical standards for years. Independent groups have found that there are over 98,000 deaths related to preventable medical errors per year. There is almost no discipline of any kind.

In fact, Illinois has passed tough new legislation making it even harder for victims of medical negligence to obtain compensation for what happened to them. Hired gun P.R. firms for the health care industry have convinced many people that the problem is with the lawyers or the patients or anyone else other than themselves.

Now, finally, even big businesses have figured out that medical errors need to be addressed. From a strict dollars and cents standpoint, medical errors are phenomenally expensive and someone always ends up paying for those errors. Such errors have also added to health care costs that have spiraled upward for years.

The massive public relations and advertising campaign to avoid setting standards and accountability simply cannot continue. Every single person who drives a car and every single person who works at a job which has any responsibility understands that there are consequences for actions that are below the standard. Maybe, finally, the medical profession may have to face the same kinds of standards.