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Preventing infections a big goal for Detroit hospitals

On Behalf of | Jul 1, 2014 | Medical Malpractice

Infection is always somewhat of a risk in medical care. According to the Centers for Disease Control, about one in 20 patients get an infection from medical care. In addition, 100,000 die every year from such infections, though that number could potentially be a lot higher. Health care facilities worth their salt understand this risk and do everything they can to minimize the risk.

Fortunately, efforts at many hospitals in the Detroit area have proved successful in reducing the occurrence of healthcare-associated infections. To take one example, the Henry Ford Health System has reportedly reduced the occurrence of infections by almost 40 percent since increasing generally error prevention efforts in 2007. That is impressive, though more needs to be done. Other hospitals have taken a more targeted approach to preventing healthcare-associated infections.

There are, according to experts on the issue, a variety of factors to be considered in preventing healthcare-associated infections. One of the big ones is ensuring hospital staff are properly trained on the importance of hand-washing. Hospitals have the duty to continually improve medical care so as to reduce the risk of infection for patients. Failure to do obviously puts patients at risk.

Patients who have been seriously harmed by a healthcare-associated infection deserve to be compensated when the infection is the result of negligence on the part of hospital staff or a physician. Putting together a solid medical malpractice case and weighing the best approach to take is not necessarily easy, though, and it pays to work with an experienced attorney.

Source: Mlive.com, “Invisible and often deadly healthcare-related infections: Metro Detroit medical officials insist work toward prevention has been successful,” David Muller, June 23, 2014.

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