A hospital visit may be more dangerous to your health than you realize.
Just ask Ingrid Kwiatek, who came home from the hospital with a serious
staph infection.
Kwiatek's husband said what started as a
routine hospital visit turned into an 110-day nightmare of pain and
suffering in three different Pennsylvania hospitals.
"I
would never wish this experience on anyone," he said. "Especially
distressing was the closed-ranks attitude at all three hospitals in
discussing the infection."
Following the incident, Kwiatek's family doctor had this to say: "Hospitals are dirty places."
Hospital
infections are the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The High Cost of Infections
A
new report released by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment
Council pointed to the high cost of these infections in both dollars
and lives.
The
report -- the first of its kind in the nation -- identified the actual
number of infections reported by Pennsylvania's 168 hospitals, as well
as other related quality-of-care measures, in 2005.
The
hospitals studied reported 19,154 cases in which patients contracted
hospital-acquired infections. The hospitalizations resulting from these
infections amounted to 394,129 hospital days and $3.5 billion in
hospital charges.
The
average hospital charge for patients with a hospital-acquired infection
was $185,260, while the average charge for patients without
hospital-acquired infections was $31,389. The average length of stay
for patients with hospital-acquired infections was also longer at 20.6
days, compared with 4.5 days, for those who didn't contract hospital
infections.
Most
telling, though, were the figures on patient deaths. The report said
that while 2.3 percent of patients who didn't acquire infections died,
the mortality rate for those who did contract infections was 12.9
percent -- more than 5 1/2 times as high.
"This
report is a first. We are no longer looking at statistics based on
estimates or extrapolated data," said Lisa McGiffert, director of
Consumers Union's Stop Hospital Infections campaign. "These are real
people who suffered from real infections. The personal and financial
costs of hospital infections are staggering."
The
Pennsylvania study did offer a few solutions. It said that doctors and
other hospital workers should wash their hands more regularly, use
gloves and properly sterilized equipment, and routinely follow
established "best practices." The report also suggested that patients
should follow the same guidelines and insist that not only health care
providers but visitors wash their hands too.
Shedding Light on Hospital Safety
What
adds to the problem, though, according to health officials, is that
most states are not required to report infections or provide such
information to the public.
"It's
time to shine the light on this important and costly issue," said Marc
Volavka, executive director of Pennsylvania Health Care Cost
Containment Council. "This will save thousands of Americans from the
devastating effects of hospital-acquired infections."
Volavka said the report is a first step toward greater transparency.
"It's
time that hospitals, patients and those who pay the bill know how many
patients develop hospital-acquired infections, the type of infections
they develop and the quality and cost implications," Volavka said. "The
more information that becomes available, the better the focus will be
on preventing these infections."
"Until
now, consumers have been completely in the dark about their hospital's
record on infecting patients," said Beth McConnell, director of the
Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. "This
report sheds light on a very serious problem and will help the public
hold hospitals accountable for patient safety."
