Serious Minnesota Medical Mistakes Set Record
St Paul, MN (KROC AM News) - An annual report on serious adverse medical events in Minnesota shows they hit their highest total in the 15 years they have been documented.
The Minnesota Dept. of Health report shows there were 384 events between October 2017 and October 2018. That’s 42 more than the previous report.
The report shows preventable mistakes led to the deaths of 11 people and 118 injuries. Three of the deaths were newborns.
Mayo Clinic-Rochester reported 41 of the events and one death. The death was the result of a fall.
The department says falls and pressure ulcers accounted for nearly 60-percent of the events.
The department says despite the increase in reports, “these events remained very rare and their very low frequency – far below 1 percent of hospitalizations – has remained steady over the past 15 years of reporting.”
The department’s report covers 29 serious events, such as wrong-site surgeries, severe pressure ulcers, falls and serious medication errors," which should rarely or never happen."