One in three hospitalized patients experiences a medical error during the course of their stay, a study published this month in the journal Health Affairs reported. One in seven hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries is harmed in the course of their care, indicates California Elder Abuse Attorney Steven Peck, and half of those errors are preventable. Each week, about 40 surgeries are performed on the wrong patient or the wrong site on the body, according to the Joint Commission, the accrediting agency for healthcare institutions.

When tackling common problems like hospital-acquired infections, efforts to share best practices among hospitals and make sure that the right procedures are followed every single time and a collaborative effort among 150 hospitals and nursing homes had reduced the incidence of pressure ulcers, or bedsores, by 70 percent. A similar effort to combat bloodstream infections caused by contamination of catheters, or tubes, that deliver medicine or blood to the body, led to reduction of 80 percent indicates Los Angeels Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Steven Peck.

About the Author

Attorney Steven Peck has been practicing law since 1981. A former successful business owner, Mr. Peck initially focused his legal career on business law. Within the first three years, after some colleagues and friend’s parents endured nursing home neglect and elder abuse, he continued his education to begin practicing elder law and nursing home abuse law.