Hospitals in Maryland has seen a spike in serious injuries and deaths among patients caused by medical errors during fiscal year 2022, according to a new report from the Maryland Department of Health’s Office of Health Care Quality.
The state reported a total of 832 adverse events — defined as an unexpected occurrence related to an individual’s medical treatment and not related to the natural course of the patient’s illness or underlying disease condition.
That included 769 that were categorized as “Level 1” — the most severe classification, meaning the treatment misstep led to a patient’s death or serious disability.
For example, one patient, who had undergone a tissue transplant on one leg, wound up having their other leg amputated due to compartment syndrome, according to the report. In another case, a premature baby was given four times the maximum daily dose of a steroid.
And in yet another case, a patient who needed platelets during surgery wound up dying from bleeding complications because there were no platelets in the hospital, and staff started their operation without checking first.
Medical errors have more than doubled since fiscal year 2020