by Susan Morris

Created on: May 18, 2009   Last Updated: May 20, 2009

How to Protect Yourself from Medical Error

In November of 2007, the newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, nearly died when they were accidentally given a massive overdose of the blood thinner, Heparin, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

This highly publicized case put the spotlight on the prevalence of medical error, which is far greater than the general public is aware. In fact, 100,000 people die each year in the USA because of preventable medical error,a groundbreaking study by the Institute of Medicine revealed. And research conducted by the National Initiative for Children's Health Care Quality found that approximately one in 15 hospitalized children is harmed by medication error, accidental overdose or a bad drug reaction.

Steps You Can Take to Safeguard the Care You Receive

Although the risk of medical error is frightening, you are not powerless when it comes to getting safe, quality care for you and your family. Following are key steps you can take:

Choose physicians with care. Ask other health care professionals, family and friends who they recommend. You can also get names of doctors in your area and learn if they have certification in a medical specialty from the Doctor Finder tool on the American Medical Society's website, http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/patients/patients.sh tml. Your state medical society can provide information on physician licensing. Not all hospitals are the same when it comes to quality and safety. When possible, choose your hospital based on performance.

The following websites are good sources of information: ahrq.gov (Agency for Health care Research and Quality), HYPERLINK "http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx "http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx (The Joint Commission) and HYPERLINK "http://www.leapfroggroup.org/"HYPERLINK "http://www.leapfroggroup.org/"http://www.leapfroggr oup.org (The Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety).

Communicate with your health care team. Provide thorough information and ask questions if you don't understand something or you want more information. Speak up if something doesn't seem right. You may not always feel comfortable doing this, but it is your right and your responsibility. Know what medications you're taking, why you're taking them, their dosages, when to take them, their side effects and possible interactions with other medications or supplements. Be informed about medical conditions or risks you have.

The following websites

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