Realistically I don't believe that every medical blunder is down to metric
or imperial.
And I think the idea that even a negligable number of babies die each year
due to the use of pounds and ounces would cause international shock and
scandal.
Dare I say it, but I expect more accidents occur due to misplaced decimal
points (or commas) than knowing your baby's weight in pounds or kilos.
Over the history of my family and all of my friends only one child has died
(decades before I was born) and it had nothing to do with measurements.
From: Pat Naughtin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:37973] Medical errors
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:44:57 +1100
On 2007 02 16 2:46 AM, "Bill Hooper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> On 2007 Feb 14 , at 7:35 PM, Pat Naughtin wrote:
>
>> I believe that about 10 000 babies die each year from medical errors
that are
>> based on this conversion practice. <converting metric data in hospitals
back
>> into Olde English units to compare with "Grandma's babies">
>
> That would be a horrifying statistic if true.
>
> Do you have any data to support that claim, or is it just "I believe
that
> ..."?
>
> Bill Hooper
> 75 kg body mass*
> Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
>
>
Dear Bill,
I agree that this is 'a horrifying statistic'.
My figure is based on a series of newspaper reports that was published here
in Australia about two years ago. At the time I thought that it was a
misprint of some kind, but when I checked with various internet sources
such
as: http://rfid.idtechex.com/documents/en/sla.asp?documentid=172 where I
found things like:
In the US, up to 98,000 people die due to preventable medical errors, a
figure that has doubled in a few years.
This put the Australian figure into some sort of international perspective.
The issue of medical errors is not just happening to new born babies. It is
a widespread problem that, I believe, is often dependent on the faulty
measurement policies of 'health care professionals'. In Australia, we have
no clear measurement policies for health care. Instead we have had a series
of scare generated inquiries and research studies that seem to always
generate similar results coupled with old doctors who insist on the old
methods they have always used. As we say here measurement in medicine is a
dog's breakfast!
Just this morning, I read in the Melbourne newspaper, 'The Age', that a
government attempt to combine all of the various registration boards ('more
than 90') has been vetoed by the doctor's lobby. Many errors arise out of
demarcation disputes so this would be a worthwhile reform, in my opinion.
See:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&list_ui
ds=14660523 for another Australian example and
resources.bmj.com/files/talks/medicalerror.ppt for another from an
international perspective.
As you know this data is very difficult to collect as the medical community
seems to conduct a 'culture of silence' with respect to errors. For this
reason my estimated figure on the deaths of babies is based on various
intermittent newspaper reports here in Australia and comparisons with
similar data from the UK and the USA.
In the USA, you might refer to
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2000/500_err.html#Most or to
http://www.ahrq.gov/research/errors.htm as starting points.
As you look at any figures you can find to describe medical errors, keep in
mind that medical errors are most likely to be grossly under-reported. The
first reaction of many health care workers is to cover up their mistakes if
they can. I think that it's probably reasonable to double all figures in
the
likelihood that your estimates will still be too low.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216
Geelong, Australia
61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is manager of http://www.metricationmatters.com an internet
website that focuses on the many issues, methods and processes that
individuals, groups, companies, and nations use when upgrading to the
metric
system. Contact Pat Naughtin at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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