Hospitals Should Be Your Very Last Resort

Patients routinely treated in mop cupboards and corridors, nurses' survey says

"A shortage of space in overcrowded NHS hospitals means patients are routinely treated in television rooms, mop cupboards and corridors, a survey of nurses suggests today.
Kitchens and storage areas are also used while extra beds are put on wards, increasing the the risk of infections spreading."

Missouri excess radiation case

"An Arkansas widower has filed a class action lawsuit against Lester E. Cox Medical Centers in the case involving the overradiation of 76 patients with brain cancer at CoxHealth of Springfield, Mo."

Hospital has 58,000 X-ray backlog

"One of the country's largest hospitals has admitted to massive backlogs which left almost 58,000 X-rays unreviewed by consultant radiologists.
Tallaght Hospital said two patients - one of whom later died and another who is now undergoing cancer treatment - had their diagnoses delayed as a result of the build-up between 2005 and the end of last year."

Alberta Children's Hospital errors revealed

"On Feb. 6, 2009, a two-year-old child received intravenously five oral medications that should have been administered through a gastronomy tube for an enteral, or digestive tract, feed."

"On Feb. 7, 2009, a four-year-old patient received a 15-fold overdose of a narcotic called fentanyl through an IV."

In-hospital death rates go up as hospitals fill up, University of Michigan researchers find

"When hospitals are already almost full with patients, their in-hospital death rates appear to increase, according to a new study from University of Michigan researchers."

A couple of years ago I was prepped for surgery in a dirty storage room. A dozen years ago, after an unplanned motorcycle dismount I wound up in a regional hospital. As I was drifting in and out of consciousness from a 105 degree fever the only person caring for me was my sweet wife. Basically the nursing staff left me to lay in puddles of blood and pus. One IV was sideways and the other was blocked. After five days I knew if I didn't get out of there I'd die. With my left side smashed up, with all my ribs in pieces, collapsed lung, busted clavicle, massive contusions and ruptured spleen, because of complete absence of care and despite that four alarm fever, I yanked the IVs and struggled into my clothes and limped out.

The hospital never charged me. A week later blood work showed I had a massive blood infection