Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 256
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4422-3160-3 • Hardback • December 2014 • $67.00 • (£52.00)
978-1-4422-3161-0 • eBook • December 2014 • $63.50 • (£49.00)
Cheryl Brown, DBA, RN, U.S. Army Nurse retired, serves as an Army Medical Command Patient Safety Nurse Consultant for patient safety managers assisting with Sentinel Event root cause analysis and providing feedback for process improvement. She served as Commander of a Combat Support Hospital and is a trauma nurse veteran of the Persian Gulf War. She contributed clinical expertise for a ground nurse character in the book Centerline. She completed research on Automated Dispensing Cabinet Improvements Implemented in Army Hospitals to Decrease Medication Errors and is a coauthor for "Overcoming Benchmarking Reluctance: A Literature Review" (Benchmarking: An International Journal, 2012).
John T. James, PhD, is the former chief toxicologist at a federal agency where he received numerous meritorious awards and wrote many book chapters and monographs dealing with spaceflight safety. As a result of the loss of his oldest son to medical errors in 2002, he has become a patient safety activist, having published a book in 2007 about his son’s care (A Sea of Broken Hearts) and proposing a national patient bill of rights to empower and protect patients. He publishes a monthly electronic newsletter on patient safety issues and has been appointed to the State of Texas Healthcare Acquired Infection and Preventable Adverse Event Advisory Panel. He just published an evidence-based, peer-reviewed study in a medical journal in which he estimated that more than 400,000 Americans have their lives shortened by medical errors in hospitals. He founded Patient Safety America, whose website is http://PatientSafetyAmerica.com.
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Empowered Patient, John T. James, PhD, DABT, and Cheryl L. Brown, DBA, RN
1. The Failure of State Medical Boards to Protect the Public, Yanling Yu, PhD
2. Secrets of the National Practitioner Data Bank and the Failure of Medical Licensing Boards, Hospitals, and the Legal System to Protect the Public from Dangerous Physicians, Robert E. Oshel, PhD
3. Failures and Successes of Physician Peer and Performance Review, Gerald Rogan, MD
4. Dangerous Medical Devices, John T. James, PhD, and Stephen S. Tower, MD
5. A Contemporary Review of Health Care-Associated Infections, Daniel M. Saman, DrPH, MPH, CPH
6. Oversight of Physician Offices: Dr. Welby or Dr. Applebee?, Evelyn V. McKnight, AuD
7. Prescription Drugs—To Heal and to Harm, John T. James, PhD, DABT
8. After the Harm: Apology, Disclosure, and Trust, Cheryl Brown, DBA, RN
9. The Consumer Advocates Who Kicked the Hospital-Infection Nest, Lisa McGiffert, Director, Consumers Union Safe Patient Project
10. Medical Guidelines and Informed Consent—Routes to Safer Medical Care, Denise Lasater, DBA, RN; Cheryl Brown, DBA, RN; and John
T. James, PhD
11. Medical Imaging: Does It Help?, Kiran Sagar, MD, FAHA, FACC
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Contributors
It may sound incongruous, but medical treatment can be harmful to your health. One estimate in the year 2000 ranked medical care as the third leading cause of death, trailing only heart disease and cancer! The Institute of Medicine quotes 1.5 million preventable detrimental drug events annually in the U.S., and the CDC figures that more than 700,000 hospital-acquired infections occur each year. In this multi-authored book promoting patient empowerment, legislative activism, and reform, health care in the U.S. is painted as too risky, frequently unnecessary, and way too costly. Topics include dangerous drugs and medical devices, hospital-acquired infections, lax licensing and credentialing of doctors, peer review problems, and difficulty in obtaining information about physician discipline and malpractice history from the National Practitioner Data Bank. When medical mistakes do occur, truth telling is essential; at times, an apology is necessary. Acceptance of evidence-based medical guidelines by all practicing physicians is vital.
— Booklist
An inspiring and gripping series of tragedies, heroes, and common-sense solutions to healthcare’s dilemma.
— Marty Makary, MD, MPH, Johns Hopkins surgeon and New York Times best-selling author of Unaccountable
The Truth About Big Medicine exposes some of the truths about “big medicine:” the fragmentation of services, the regulatory gaps and inconsistencies, and the lapses in the provision of high quality care. Through the lens of consumer protection and patient-centeredness the authors delineate ways to “open up” and improve the U.S health care system using greater transparency and disclosure.
— Carolyn Long Engelhard, MPA, director of Health Policy Program, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine
The authors have provided a thoughtful and well documented account of many lapses occurring in America's troubled health delivery system. This is tempered with a series of common sense recommendations whereby patients and society can rightfully expect improvements and hold accountable those professionals whose practices cause untold injuries and deaths. This book is a must read for all who seek a more responsible and accountable healthcare system.
— Aaron Liberman, Ph.D., LHRM, professor of health services administration, University of Central Florida