Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes

by Robert M. Wachter, Kaveh Shojania, Kaveh G. Shojania

Book Overview

"This updated edition includes the latest findings on patient safety by two of the foremost authorities on medical mistakes."Two dynamic physician-professors investigate (and re-investigate) the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590710169
• ISBN13: 9781590710166
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Rugged Land Books
• Length: 441 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Riveting AND educational!

I strongly suspect that the publishers insisted on the title of this book over the objections of the authors, because (as another reviewer has noted) the title is clearly sensationalistic and very much out of line with the even-handed and level-headed treatment of the rest of the book. Indeed, the title is perhaps the ONLY thing I would criticize about this otherwise excellent and gripping description of the underlying causes of medical mistakes and what can be done about them.I cannot praise the quality of the writing enough. The authors accomplish just the right blend of fascinating case studies and theoretical analysis. They make their basic point (that any system run by humans is fallible and medical mistakes are inevitable) very effectively in the beginning pages of the book by describing two case studies where mistakes were made...with the punch line being that the mistakes were committed by the authors themselves. Beginning the book this way was in part so effective because it gets across the message that the vast majority of mistakes that are made are not the result of negligent, careless, or malicious physicians; rather, they are the inevitable consequence of a system that struggles to cope with the complexity of the ever-changing demands of a never-ending stream of patients.The second most admirable feature of this book, in my opinion, is that it does not merely criticize but also offers suggestions for improving the delivery of medical services to eliminate errors, from such simple steps as physicians "signing their sites" (to prevent, say, amputation of the wrong limb) to computerizing medication orders (to prevent errors due to physicans' notoriously poor handwriting) to more systemic changes in malpractice law. I thought the authors' suggestions on this latter topic to be highly intriguing and novel. The idea of adopting a modified no-fault system for compensating patients injured by medical errors is, in my mind, a terrific idea, and I would love to see the authors' recommendations in this regard enter the national debate on malpractice litigation reform.Perhaps the only part of the book I found even slightly disappointing was the authors' reluctance to deal more bluntly with the problem of incompetent or alcoholic/drug dependent doctors. The authors acknowledge that these "bad apples" exist, but they do little beyond saying that hospitals and physicians tend to cover up for the incompetents in their ranks. My mother-in-law died from botched surgery; after she died, the hospital risk manager told us to our faces that this particular surgeon had had "other surgeries that did not turn out as he had planned." I think if I had read this book before my mother-in-law died, I would have been more proactive in pressing our complaints about this surgeon, who--a scary thought--is still operating on people but probably should not be.But these kinds of physicians are in the minority, and the contribution this book makes is to describe t

Excellent insights

This extremely informative book provides unjaundiced insights into the way errors occur, describes the hierarchy and complexities of medical training, helps to demystify the culture of medicine, and enlightens readers about the organization of hospitals and delivery of medical care in a dramatic and engrossing manner. The authors have a mission, but choose to teach, rather than to proseletyze. There are helpful suggestions for patients, as well as sophisticated and thoughtful analysis for medical professionals.

A Book For Everyone! (from a stay-at-home mom)

I highly recommend this book! I first saw Dr. Wachter on IMUS. The interview was terrific. Not only was the subject matter interesting, the doctor spoke in a language anyone could understand, and he was funny to boot. He made a great analogy about calling his favorite Chinese take-out restaurant to place an order. Before they hung up, they repeated the order back to him (like the world would end if he got the wrong kind of soup), but nurses and pharmacists have not been trained to do the same when a prescription is phoned in. The just say thanks to the doctor and hang up. Well, I immediately bought the book and could not put it down. So many of these types of books speak to other medical personnel, this one is for everyone. I have recommended it to my book club (15 suburban Moms) and the discussions have been quite interesting. We all have our own stories to share about the medical process. Who doesn't have a story about a doctors appointment with an ailing parent or a 2:00am emergency room visit with their toddler? I now feel better equipped to deal with these situations.

Important reading for patients andhealthcare providers

Nearly every disease or medical condition has a group that works to bring attention to the importance of spending time and money to understand and control it. A key activity for these groups is to bring the disease to the attention of the public in an effort to influence the flow of money and talent to their cause. Some diseases affect such a small number of people that it is impossible to reach a critical mass of affected or interested people to be able to influence politics or market forces. Others may affect a large number of people, but fail to receive the support of the public and those that fund research. In the 1980s AIDS was in this latter category until the a critical mass of activists took up the cause and moved it high on the list of diseases receiving support from federal sources, private industry (pharmaceutical companies), and the public at large.In the last few years it has become it has become clear that medical errors can be thought of as an epidemic (though not a new one) needing the same kind of support that led to significant improvements in the transmission and treatment of AIDS 15 years ago. There have been a number of reports about the problem in the medical and lay press, but it remains a disease that doesn't yet have many energetic and vocal activists. Internal Bleeding may change that.Wachter and Shojania have written an entertaining and easy to read overview of the problem, including the work done by a handful of very talented researchers to understand the root causes and potential solutions. It is full of anecdotes of medical mistakes with a more thoughtful analysis of them than what one can learn from the newspaper or nightly news. The book is likely to engage the public more than previous academic reports and TV news segments. It may move medical mistakes and healthcare quality overall, up on the list of our nation's priorities more successfully than other efforts to date.

Can We Handle The Truth?!?

A fearless and eye-opening look at the terrible mistakes that occur in medical settings. Not just a collection of horrific anecdotes (though there are PLENTY of those.) There are REAL solutions set forth here and I hope someone is paying attention. To their credit, the authors reveal what lay people have never before been privy to--some of which falls into the "Yikes! Maybe ignorance really IS bliss" category, but makes for engrossing reading. I could not put it down until the last page. This should be required reading for policymakers and potential patients alike.