1 in 2 Patients Have a Medicine Error in Surgical Procedures

Yep you read that right.  I was enjoying a cup of coffee on Saturday morning watching the CBS news Morning Show and this article came up in the health topics for the week.  If you read the article the likelihood of having an error in the medication given to you during or after a surgical procedure is 50%.  Some of the errors are blood pressure related, diabetic patients, allergic interactions or medication interactions.

The news story experts advised that you should be aware of what you are taking in regards to medications, what your medical conditions are at the time of surgery and what medications you can not take with your condition or other medications.  Now my take on that is this.  The average patients has a 10th grade education.  So we are expecting them to know what medications they can and can not take.  What the drug interactions will be with other medications and what our current medical condition is, just coming out of surgery.  After being sedated and undergoing medical procedures.

Does this all sound like kind of a ridiculous idea to you?  Well it sure does to me.  Doctors went to school to learn about conditions, medicines, surgeries and interactions.  I would be willing to bet 50% of people having surgery today couldn’t tell you all the medications they are currently taking by name and dosage.

Articles like this always get me excited for two reasons.  It is great to educate the public about the inherent dangers of medical care.  You have to remember errors will happen at times, much like you make errors at work or in your own life.  Unfortunately medical errors could be deadly.  The second reason is it is great evidence to prove how safe and effective chiropractic care is in comparison.  Not to overload you with studies, but there are many studies showing there are literally hundreds of thousands of people that die every year from medicine errors.

Chiropractic is safe, effective and drug free.  Find out what it means to live a healthy life and take control of your body and health with Elements Chiropractic.