Well, this isn’t good news at all: more hospital errors tend to happen when kids have chronics illnesses.
If your kid is sick, they might be one of the three percent that get plagued with medical errors. If they’re sick with a chronic health condition, that number shoots up.
The study found that of children hospitalized in 38 U.S. states in 2006, 44 percent had at least one chronic health problem, such as asthma, a digestive disorder, diabetes or cancer — and of that group the medical error chance was over 5%.
For kids without recurring issues: 1.3%.
The researchers actually expected this:
“They may stay in the hospital longer, and their condition may be more complicated.”
We’re not sure that’s a sufficient excuse! If anything, the doctors should be MORE careful!
Sadly, the study didn’t look at potential fixes, which would probably be a good thing to do.
Likely, though, it’ll probably come down to communication and education — on both the physician AND the parent side!
[Image via AP Images.]
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