Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Declares That Sepsis Should Be Treated As A Medical Emergency
The Washington Post: Sepsis Is A Medical Emergency, CDC Says. It Can Be Stopped If Caught In Time.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared sepsis a medical emergency, reporting Tuesday that about 72 percent of patients with this fast-moving and deadly illness have recently been seen by doctors and nurses, representing missed opportunities to catch it early or prevent it. (Karidis, 8/23)
Boston Globe: Medical Errors Persist, Despite Increased Scrutiny
Preventable medical errors reported by full-service hospitals in Massachusetts grew 60 percent last year, a rise partly attributed to problems detected in a single hospital’s dialysis unit. Hospitals disclosed 1,313 errors that harmed or threatened patients in 2015, including 26 cases when the wrong surgery or procedure was done on a patient; 51 instances when a medication error seriously injured or killed a patient; and 446 cases of contaminated drugs, devices, or biologics. This last category, which accounted for only 37 reports in 2014, constituted most of the overall increase in reported errors. (Kowalczyk, 8/24)
