On August 13, 2007, Merlyna Adams - a school principal from La Place, Louisiana - experienced a sharp pain in her right side. The next day, her primary care doctor ordered a CT scan, which revealed that she had a 10mm kidney stone. Over the next few days, she was transferred to several different hospitals. At the fourth hospital, she remained in ICU for nearly three weeks. Her body developed sepsis, a complication caused by infection. She suffered congestive heart failure, renal failure and pulmonary failure. The restricted blood flow to her hands and feet required her to have both legs amputated below the knee and she lost both hands. She is unable to engage in everyday tasks like brushing her teeth, taking a bath, eating or using the restroom without another person.
According to the Institute of Medicine, as many as 98,000 people die every year from preventable medical errors – and this number doesn’t include those seriously injured. This is the sixth leading cause of death in America.
By removing legal accountability, attention to safety will go down and more people will suffer injuries and death from negligent care and unsafe products. The best way to have fewer medical negligence cases is to reduce the number of medical errors. Tell Congress to put patient safety first – there are 98,000 reasons why you should.