2011-12-30T21:13:00.001-08:00

Statistics show that over 12,000 deaths occur each year from surgical errors; over 7000 deaths per year from medication errors in hospitals; 20,000 deaths per year from other errors in hospitals; 80,000 deaths per year from infections in hospitals; and 106,000 deaths per year from adverse effects of medications. This adds up to over 225,000 deaths per year in the US alone as a direct result of preventable medical errors (Starfield, JAMA, 2000).

This unbelievable number of preventable deaths per year is more than those from car accidents (43,458), breast cancer (42,297), and AIDS (16,516) combined. This puts preventable medical errors and adverse reactions as the third leading cause of death in the United States, the equivalent of one jumbo jet crashing everyday!

No one in their right mind would accept a jumbo jet crashing daily. Why do we accept over 225,000 deaths from preventable medical errors each year?

Our mission is to save lives by the following specific goals:

To improve patient healthcare and medication safety;
To advocate for patient's rights and to be informed;
To improve communications between patients and medical professionals;
To help patients & families navigate through the federal & state medical regulatory systems.

Informed Patients