When Antibiotics Aren't Enough
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-05-14 10:05:28.234819-04:00
AARP staff and volunteers are working with state legislators to eliminate the number of preventable medical errors that occur in New Jersey hospitals each year. AARP believes that a hospital stay should not increase your medical risks.
Federal health officials estimate that one in 20 patients—over 2 million nationwide—pick up an infection while hospitalized. Infections stall recovery, prolonging hospital stays with rounds of intravenous antibiotic treatments, and sometimes invasive surgeries. For some patients, this is not enough and thousands of those who pick up a hospital-acquired infection will die.
Drug-resistant infection strains are also on the rise, which is believed to contribute to hospital acquired infection-related deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control, a drug-resistant bacteria known as MRSA has become the dominant cause of hospital infections over the past three decades, rising from 2 percent of all cases in 1974 to more than 60 percent of all cases in the United States.
MRSA treatments cost the United States more than $4 billion per year. According to a 2006 Pennsylvania study, the average commercial insurance payment related to caring for a patient who acquired an infection in the hospital was almost $54,000 compared to $8,000 for each patient who did not acquire an infection. An article published in The Lancet (September 2, 2006), one of the oldest peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, had also stated that the overall costs of treating MRSA-infected patients are much greater than the costs of screening programs.
AARP supports legislation by State Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) designed to dramatically reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections in New Jersey. S2580 requires hospitals to implement infection prevention programs. The bill is modeled on a successful program implemented in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pittsburgh Health System. It is also based on standard MRSA prevention procedures in Europe which have reduced MRSA infections by 70 percent.
"For years it has been assumed that certain rates of infections were considered unavoidable. Now hospitals are finding they can dramatically reduce and ultimately eliminate killer infections by changing how they do things," said Buono.
Has your life been affected by a preventable medical error?
Tell us your story. By adding your voice to the national Divided We Fail campaign, you'll help AARP put this issue at the forefront of every public official's mind, bringing us one step closer to achieving a solution. To tell your story, visit us online. You can also fax your story to (609) 987-4634, Attention: Voices for Health Care Reform.
Stand as a strong champion for quality, affordable health care by signing the AARP "Divided We Fail" pledge.
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