- The Commission has also been sought out regarding the proposed directive aimed at safeguarding workers from hazards stemming from ionizing radiation exposure.
Special healthcare professionals' assessors link 75 fatalities last year to medical blunders by medical experts. This is 9 fewer than the preceding year, as revealed by the Health Services Agency upon releasing its 2023 annual data in Berlin. Acting as an appraisal service for compulsory health and long-term care insurers, the agency is responsible for analyzing these statistics.
Overall, patients endured issues due to medical blunders in 2,679 instances. This reflects a minuscule portion of all treatments in Germany. Nevertheless, medical mistakes can lead to severe repercussions for patients - approximately 30% of the times, patients experience long-term harm. A staggering 150 incidents were categorized as "can't happen" events - missteps that, by the assessors' judgement, should not occur under any circumstances. These blunders include confusion between patients, body parts, or medications, as well as items left inside patients following surgeries.
"Establishing a mandatory reporting system is essential to avoid such events," urged Stefan Gronemeyer, the CEO of the Health Services Agency. Since such a system is not yet implemented in hospitals, the data catches only instances caused by patients' complaints.
The German Patient Protection Foundation also denounced the handling of medical errors. "Patients are left in the dark here. Error culture is absent in clinics and care centers," asserted the foundation's board member, Eugen Brysch.
In an effort to reduce such incidents, it's crucial to prioritize both 'Health and safety' in healthcare settings. Failure to do so could result in serious consequences, such as prolonged patient harm or 'Health and safety' violations.
