The secret is out

Do as we say, not as we did

By David Baker
Sunday, August 16, 2009

An opinion piece that appears today in a newspaper in Texas offers some ideas for reducing the number of deaths and injuries in hospitals.

It suggests such things as including medical error as a contributing cause of death on death certificates – which doctors often refuse to do; increasing the use of electronic records; properly funding an existing state error reporting system; and asking lots of questions when you go to a hospital.

Then the newspaper has this suggestion if you are affected by a medical error:

“Go public with your story. Silent problems are problems that don’t get fixed, and this problem is killing far too many people.”

So which newspaper is it that is advising people to “go public” with medical errors?

It’s none other than the Houston Chronicle. The Chronicle is owned by the Hearst Corporation. Hearst also owns the Albany Times Union, which for the past 10 years has ignored virtually every one of dozens of medical malpractice lawsuits filed against providers in its circulation area.



Read the editorial here

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