• The American Iatrogenic Association

    From rene.boroughs@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 1 02:21:56 2020
    http://www.iatrogenic.org/ doesen't matter
    Le mercredi 22 octobre 2008 03:32:06 UTC+2, rpautrey2 a écrit :
    The American Iatrogenic Association
    http://www.iatrogenic.org/


    The American Iatrogenic Association is devoted to the study and
    reporting of medical errors that lead to disease and death.

    In 2000, a presidential task force labelled medical errors a "national problem of epidemic proportions." Members estimated that the "cost
    associated with these errors in lost income, disability, and health
    care costs is as much as $29 billion annually." That same year the
    Institute of Medicine released an historic report, "To err is human:
    building a safer health system." The report's authors concluded that
    44,000 to 98,000 people die each year as a result of errors during hospitalization. They noted that "even when using the lower estimate,
    deaths due to medical errors exceed the number attributable to the 8th- leading cause of death." The addition of non-hospital errors may drive
    the numbers of errors and deaths much higher. As the authors note, the hospital data "offer only a very modest estimate of the magnitude of
    the problem since hospital patients represent only a small proportion
    of the total population at risk, and direct hospital costs are only a fraction of total costs."

    Medical errors are the not only way that consumers are harmed. The
    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 2 million
    people annually acquire infections while hospitalized and 90,000
    people die from those infections. More than 70 percent of hospital-
    acquired infections have become resistant to at least one of the drugs commonly used to treat them, largely due to the overprescribing of antibiotics by physicians. Staph, the leading cause of hospital
    infections, is now resistant to 95 percent of first-choice antibiotics
    and 30 percent of second-choice antibiotics. Poor staff hygiene is
    considered the leading source for infections acquired during hospitalizations. But efforts to get medical workers to improve safety through things as simple as better and more frequent hand washing have
    met with little success.

    There is much disagreement as to what constitutes iatrogenic illness.
    For decades, peptic ulcers were said to be caused by an emotional
    disorder which prevented afflicted people from managing "stress."
    Physicians instructed many people with ulcers to change their
    lifestyles and, in some cases, to take anti-anxiety medications. In
    recent years researchers determined that most peptic ulcers were
    caused by a bacteria treatable with antibiotics. Were the adverse
    emotional and treatment consequences of misdiagnosing ulcers as a
    psychiatric illness iatrogenic? Similarly, for many years epilepsy was
    said by medical experts to be evidence of pathological criminality. Epileptics were imprisoned in "colonies," to isolate them from the
    general population. Were the obviously damaging effects of this
    "treatment" iatrogenic? Are the present large-scale drugging of
    children (mostly boys) diagnosed with "Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder," and the former "treatment" of homosexuals with
    electroconvulsive therapy (shock treatment), insulin coma, and
    lobotomy examples of iatrogenic disease? Most physicians would say
    they are not, yet the harm resulting from these erroneous diagnoses
    and severe "treatments" are no less damaging for the people who
    suffered them.

    AiA casts a bright light on this debate, opening up medicine's murky
    side to public scrutiny and offering help to its victims. Our new web
    site will accomplish this in various and evolving ways, including:

    the publishing of articles, essays, studies, book excerpts
    making recommendations that will protect you from iatrogenic illness publishing data on the risks of various medical procedures
    investigating ways that an iatrogenically harmed person might be made
    well and, when appropriate, compensated for his or her disability and suffering
    legal referrals
    offering proposals for political and social changes that reduce
    iatrogenic risk and hold perpetrators accountable
    an opportunity for iatrogenic victims to share their experiences with
    our readers
    The site invites the participation of medical, legal, and political specialists, but it is designed for the general public and to be as
    free of obfuscatory medical jargon as possible.

    If you agree with the objectives of the AIA you can help by making a donation.

    Please note that donations to the American Iatrogenic Association are
    not tax-deductible.

    Nicolas S. Martin, Executive Director

    This site contains some files in the Acrobat (pdf) format. The free
    Reader necessary to read these files can be downloaded here.

    Our e-mail address: aia@iatrogenic.org

    http://www.iatrogenic.org/

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